Dir. John Curran, China/US, 2006, 125 mins
Cast: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones
Review by Carol Allen
Based on a W. Somerset Maugham novel, The Painted Veil perfectly evokes the mores of the twenties. Out of social pressure to be married before being "left on the shelf", spoiled upper class socialite Kitty (Watts) weds quiet and serious bacteriologist, Walter Fane (Norton) and moves with him to Shanghai. Unhappy in her marriage, she has a brief affair with the English Vice Consul (Schreiber). When her husband finds out, the now cold and unapproachable Walter punishes her by taking her with him to a remote village in Northern China, where he has accepted a post as doctor.
It is beautifully filmed, acted and a very strong story – it is Maugham of course. The very first sequence graphically establishes the huge fissure in the couple's relationship, when they are waiting in the rural wilds for the cart that will take them to their destination – his set face and determined absorption in his book, her facial expression and toe tapping speak volumes. We then move into the flashbacks which depict how this situation has come about, and then on into their life in the village and the cholera epidemic which finally resolves the story, changing Kitty's attitude to her husband from cold contempt to admiration and love.
In the early scenes of the story in London society and the British colonial community in Shanghai, the film perfectly establishes the world which has made these people who they are. Watts is excellen,t as usual. The young Celia Johnson style accent she adopts in London is amusing and her change from selfish, vain, manipulative little madam into the woman she becomes as a result of her experiences is touching and convincing. Norton is physically uncharacteristally unattractive as he buries himself in his role – sweetly awkward in his courtship of Kitty, a clumsy and inexperienced lover to his bride, then cold, vengeful and unapproachable in his hurt. Until, that is, we see him at work, caring for his patients and learning to be a doctor in practice rather than theory. Northern China and their relationship there is the meat of the film. The scenes between them of indifference bordering on hatred in the early part of that are desperately painful, their gradual coming together, as Kitty slowly starts to fall in love with the husband she has despised, is electric, while the resolution of their story is heartbreaking.
Schreiber makes a reasonable job of playing an English public school love rat; Toby Jones gives good support as Kitty's friend, the Deputy Commissioner in the village and there's a memorable cameo from Diana Rigg as the Mother Superior, who has what she describes as "a relationship of peaceful indifference with God". It's a beautifully made film with the ring of truth about it and ultimately very moving.
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