Naomi WattsThe Painted Veil

*This is my first review, so please forgive its imperfections*I came across this film when scrolling through my video library on a rainy afternoon, and let me just say, if I judged a book strictly by its cover, I would have passed this without a second glance and forgotten it completely. Not that the DVD cover isn't stunning, depicting some enchanting Chinese scenery, but the image of a couple snuggling on a rowboat, I have to admit, had me sighing a little. I remember thinking, Oh God, this is going to be the Chinese version of Australia, a film that shoves some competent cinematography and landscape shots down your throat to distract from an eye-rollingly corny love story.Again, if I was sold on appearences alone, I would have left this film in the dirt, but being a woman and having my weaknesses, I decided to try it out with the knowledge that Edward Norton (known for being choosy when taking roles) was the lead. I was prepared for a hackneyed romance told mainly through montages (one of my personal pet peeves) and some overdramatic music. I will say, the film DOES open in a somewhat typical fashion. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy marries girl, but ahhh, girl doesn't fall for boy. However, the film at this point veers dramatically from where one would expect a movie with said scenerio to head. The wife of Edward Norton's character, played in a wonderful turn by Naomi Watts, is vein, selfish, and unfaithful, but portrayed so as not to make her hateful to the audience. For some actors, this is easier than for others, and Watts shines in creating a beautifully rounded character that transforms from a spoiled daughter of high society to a devoted and powerful wife and woman. I'm going into as much detail as I am because the character development is one of the many great aspects of this film. Each character is written with as much virtue as flaw. No one is perfect, yet no one is unlikeable. Edward Norton is mesmerizing as he has been in every film I have ever seen him in. I truly believe this is one of his most powerful, and sadly underrated, performances. He pulls off a flawless accent and powerfully communicates the resentment he feels for his philandering wife, but what makes the perfomance memorable is how internal most of it is. Norton's eyes play as great a role as his mouth, for there is not a scene in this movie where his tortured betrayal is not evident. He and Watts play off each other with ease, which is ironic because a great chunk of this film has them at each others' throats. The movie boasts an outstanding supporting cast, including Liev Schreiber as the seductive albeit underlyingly slimy lover, Toby Jones (who I have never seen in a role this pivitol since) as the couple's neighbor and sort-of conscience, and the fabulous Diana Rigg as the Mother Superior of the French convent. A lot of times in movies, the nun character is employed to offer sentimental words of wisdom, which Rigg does here, but her perfomance keeps the character from being cliche and she easily wins the best line of the film with her speech to Watts' character about faith and how it prevails with the help of love.As much as I'm raving about the performances, I don't want this film to come across as one only watchable for its actors, because as I discovered within the first ten minutes of this nearly two hour picture, it has so much more to offer. Based on the 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham (which I understand takes a far less romantic turn in its finale than the film version), The Painted Veil tells the story of a shy, young bacteriologist named Walter Fane (Norton), who has returned from his work in China in hopes of taking a wife. He instantly falls for the beautiful but spoiled Kitty (Watts), and abruptly asks her for her hand in marriage. Accepting his proposal(for far less romantic reasons), Kitty is immediately disappointed in Walters' mundane lifestyle and his apparent lack of passion, and wastes no time in seeking it out elsewhere, namely the charming(and married) Charlie Townsend (Schreiber). The lovers are seperated, however, by Walter's discovery, who, as punishment for her behavior, drags Kitty along with him to a small Chinese Village (the name of which is escaping me at the moment) infested with a mammoth outbreak of Cholera. Walter volunteers to be the town's doctor, with the self-pitying Kitty confined to the solitude of their isolated home, her only company the being the non-english-speaking Chinese house-maid and their neighbor, Mr.Waddington, whom she comes to befriend. Walter, his fondness for Kitty now replaced with bitter distain, seeks refuge in his work, but runs into obstacles with the townspeople condemning him as a white imperialist good for nothing but corrupting their tradition. As the film progresses, it is the obstacles faced by the two individuals that bring them to a new understanding of themselves and their realizing that they are both at fault for the marriage's failure through both wanting the other to be something they aren't. The relationship between Walter and Kitty is both complex and beautiful. It undergoes several beatings, but ultimately prevails as one more powerful and romantic than I was prepared for. The love story avoids cliche by taking its time to really manifest itself, and by that I mean it truly had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation for the two characters to finally give in to their feelings. It is something special, as we watch two people, who become more than just characters but emalgums of both human frailty and strength, discover their ability to love. The third act of the film I will not elaborate on because I want everyone to experience it on their own, as well as the rest of a film that has criminally flown under the radar for far too long.As one who compulsively studies film-making and the factors that determine its greatness, I will wrap up this review by complimenting the stunning production design of the movie. Every shot is strategically framed, pulling no distracting camera cuts like one might see in one of Scorsese's lesser films. And although this film, for me, earns the right to boast some unbelievable shots of the Chinese countryside, at no time does it rely on them to force a reaction. The word to describe this film, in its design atleast, is subtlety. The director, the cinematographer and the production designer let the film speak for itself in how wonderous it is, and Alexandre Desplat lets his score serve as a backdrop rather than a mood-setter. This film is a rare pleasure, and all I can say is I wish there were more out there with as much poise and tenderness as this one possesses. This is a film worth setting time aside to watch, because it is one that demands full attention in order for the viewer to full appreciate what it is trying to do, which is not to wack them over the head with its sentimentality, but rather cradle them with its quiet and tender beauty.

There are some films that are so good, that I hesitate to review them since any review would come short in conveying the exceptional quality of the production. The Painted Veil is this type of film. It just could not be better. The acting is superb. The Chinese scenery and settings, the costumes (especially for Naomi Watts), and the art direction are of the highest quality. The music, often offering us variations of Eric Satie's compositions, complimented the feeling of the remote Chinese countryside. Yet it is the underlying novel by W. Somerset Maugham and the terse screenplay presented here, that is the bedrock upon which this excellent production is built.The storyline weaves a tale of ever changing relationships and the bonds created, broken, and recreated. Kitty is a spoiled, bored, self-centered yet beautiful young woman who lives with her parents. She is a bit late in selecting a husband and her parents become increasingly biting and pushy in their comments that she should marry. A young infectious disease specialist, Walter Fine, comes to a family party, where he falls for Kitty. Beside beauty and physical grace, she has an off-handed frankness that could be seen as attractive. Walter falls for her and she is casually amused by him. However her mother's overbearing nature eventually helps tip the scales and Kitty marries this shy, bright, but naive young man. Since he is in the public health division of the English civil service, he is soon assigned to Shanghai China and Kitty must go with him. She is soon bored and they find they have little in common. He reads and studies and she plays cards and games. He does his best to amuse her. He is a bit shy in regard to love making, preferring to make love in the dark. The stage is being set for a major problem. The problem arrives with an invitation to the Vice-Consul's home for a dinner party. Here Kitty meets charming Charlie (played well by Liv Schreiber)and soon becomes his lover. Walter comes home unexpectedly and hears them making love behind her locked bedroom door. He leaves a record album he has purchased for her beside the door, a simple message to her that he knows what she has done. Dr. Fine accepts a terrible risky assignment to go deep into the Chinese countryside to deal with a cholera epidemic. He tells Kitty she must come too. She refuses. He then tells her that he will begin divorce proceedings the next day. In 1925 a woman divorced by her husband for adultery would ruin her social and economic status and stability. She is really forced into the situation of going into a disease infested remote area. She tries to get Charlie to divorce his wife and marry her, but he will have none of it and thus Kitty sees that he is a handsome and charming playboy, but has no intention of disrupting the relationship with his rich, sophisticated wife.Thus Kitty agrees to go with Walter in a bleak pact that has a feeling of mutual destruction. It is in this backwater site of poverty and disease that the husband and wife actually begin to know each other. Walter has come to the conclusion that Kitty is terminally shallow, bored, spoiled, and self absorbed. However a series of events, some tragic, begin to unfold that both allow Kitty to develop beyond her own self-centeredness and to discover within herself some self worth based on service to others.Toby Jones plays a remote English official who reveals to Kitty the reality of her relationship with Charlie, a superficial tryst and not a life long commitment. Diana Rigg is superb as the French Mother Superior of a Catholic school, hospital, and orphanage, who guides Kitty gently toward self examination, commitment to others rather than to oneself, and eventually to the talents and intellectual compassion of her husband.Here the themes of the film become almost profound as it explores whether it is possible to fall in love with the underlying goodness of a person. Kitty gradually begins to appreciate the dedication of her husband to public health and the masses suffering from infectious diseases. However, despite his busy and demanding life, Dr. Fine begins to appreciate Kitty's growing dedication to the French nuns and the work in the orphanage school. As their appreciation for each other grows, tensions between Chinese nationalists and the English also grow and erupt violently. Walter saves Kitty from a band of Chinese ruffians. It is here that Kitty discovers she is two months pregnant and the father is probably Charlie, not Walter. They have reconciled enough at this point that he accepts this fact and Walter really forgives any and all of Kitty's past indiscretions. Yet at this time his public health strategies have begun to turn the tide on the cholera epidemic and the death rate drops dramatically in the village. Unfortunately good news spreads and the people from a neighboring village also stricken by Cholera invade the village and must be pushed back into a refugee camp. Here Walter works to bring the disease under control but becomes ill himself. Kitty comes to the refugee camp and nurses Walter, but it is impossible to keep him hydrated. He awakens from his coma and calls to her, she is sleeping beside him, and he asks for her forgiveness. At this point we see that he has also grown, for he has moved from the victimized husband with the unfaithful wife to a realization that he has pulled them both into a suicide mission and he has assumed he can punish her for the pain she caused him. It is now Walter than needs forgiveness. The film is excellent in teaching us that when the victim becomes the oppressor that they must first overcome the pain and righteous indignation before they can begin to empathize with those they have decided to punish. The final step is more sublime for after empathy can come the final step of realization that we all are capable of victimizing and oppressing others in the name of revenge and to justify our pain. Asking for forgiveness breaks the cycle. Walter breaks the cycle and releases Kitty to be fully human.Bravo for such an excellent and moving film. The entire production takes Maugham's fantastic novel and polishes it into a glowing gem, possibly the best film made in 2007.