The Painted Veil
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Movie Reviews of The Painted Veil
Movie Review: Artful, character-driven, and lovely
Summary: 5 Stars
This amazing film is based on the Somerset Maugham novel of the same name. (And, being based on Maugham, you know this ain't gonna end well, right?) Set in the 1920s, The Painted Veil tells the story of Kitty (Watts), a beautiful young woman who, as our story begins, is yet unmarried. Just as Kitty is feeling increasing pressure from her family to wed, Walter Fane (Norton) walks into her life. Fane is a brilliant, quiet bacteriologist who is currently working in Shanghai. Fane is quickly infatuated with Kitty, and he promptly asks her to marry him. Kitty agrees (due to a variety of reasons), and the two are wed and travel to China together.
Once in China, however, the couple's differences sharpen. Kitty finds comfort in the arms of a lover, and when Walter discovers her transgression, he confronts her. Walter's terms are simple: 1.) He can divorce her publicly for adultery, ruining her reputation; 2.) She can join him in a small Chinese village where he has agreed to serve as a doctor. (The village is battling an awful cholera epidemic.)
Kitty finds herself traveling to the Chinese countryside with her husband. The stench of adultery hangs palpably between them, and the two seem to despise each other. However, over time, Kitty and Walter begin to rediscover themselves and each other, leading to a conclusion that is redemptive and (in some ways) affirmative of the capacity of the human spirit.
This is an amazing, character-driven film. Performances by Watts and Norton, which make up the bulk of the screen-time, are unbelievable. Kitty is initially rendered as a slightly shallow woman who really doesn't know herself. She has not concerned herself with anything that is not about her. She chooses to marry Walter because she wants to get away from her mother and because she's beginnig to feel it necessary to marry SOMEONE to satisfy her family. However, as the film continues, Kitty grows up. She begins to think of the world outside of herself. She begins to yearn for a useful life.
Walter, a serious scientist, is not a social person. But he sees Kitty and is drawn to her. His need to be back in China is pressing, so he rushes an awkward courtship and proposes. There is much more to Walter, however, than Norton initially lets us see. His intelligence, his astute conclusions about human nature, his capacity for vengeance, his capacity for forgiveness. There are no flat characters here. These are intriguing, real, flawed people, and they are fascinating to watch.
Panoramic shots of the varied landscape of China are beautifully done, and the costumes are wonderful. The real show, though, is the evolving relationship between Kitty and Walter.
Soooooo worth seeing. A beautiful film to watch, and a performer's tour de force.
Movie Review: Exquisite
Summary: 5 Stars
Beautiful setting, especially the reflections of mountains in the river, the exotic countryside. It appeared so serene despite the disease and death of the human population. The haunting and sad score by Desplat, including Erik Satie's "Gnossienne No. 1.", intensified the depression and loneliness of the main characters, which was as stifling as the humidity. A gorgeous yet tragic atmosphere...
You kind of get used to all the adultery in movies/tv these days, and as usual I felt that the guilty party should be punished by the wronged spouse. However, I felt sorry for Naomi Watts' character, Kitty, especially when she figured out that her lover was not as invested in their relationship as she was. I wasn't too surprised about that though. She must have been so angry with herself, felt so foolish, humiliated. And I found myself becoming frustrated with Edward Norton's character, Dr. Fane, as he was too engrossed in his work to notice Kitty - but he didn't talk very much to her even before her affair. He kept his distance. But my feelings towards him changed by the end of the movie.
I hate saying this, because I hate how marriage is a sign of "normality" in our society, that there must be something wrong with you if you're 30 and not married and/or don't even want to get married (at least where I live), but marriage to Dr. Fane was the best choice for Kitty, although she was very independent, a feminist, in her opinions - at one time she said, "Why should a woman have to marry someone she doesn't love just to be married" (or something like that). But she learned to love what she had, and spent less time agonizing over the love she didn't have. Her main character flaw, selfishness, eventually disintegrated as she became involved with the orphans, doing something "useful" with her life. It was neat to watch her character totally be transformed, especially her interactions with her husband.
I really liked Toby Jones' character, although he is the stereotypical plain-looking man in a relationship with a beautiful woman. And the woman loves him because of his virtue, not outward appearance. It's nice, and I believe it, but I often think of how it's rarely the other way around - how often do you see a gorgeous man with a plain woman? Seriously, if you can think of such a couple, celebrity or not, please leave a comment!
But anyway, a very enjoyable movie, very moving and thought-provoking. Also, seeing Diana Rigg play a nun is really something!
Movie Review: Love Bears All Things
Summary: 5 Stars
Never having read this particular Maugham novel, I was very happily surprised by so much of this film. First, that Edward Norton and Naomi Watts produced the film, and played in it together as if learning to dance...awkward together at first and out of necessity for Kate; then they "change partners"; Kate to adultry, Walter to his bacteria; Walter the typical scientific geek; serious, brilliant, somewhat cold and fearful when necessary. As the movie progresses the cinematic views are incredible! What a beautiful country this was filmed in. The hills, meadows, rivers - simply breathtaking. One of my favorite British actors, Toby Jones of Elizabeth I and Infamous, plays their new and only English speaking neighbor in a small village where a horrible outbreak of cholera pulls Walter to inner China, taking along his petite but healthy wife, Naomi Watts, Kate, on the condition that she goes with him or he divorces her for her adulturous affair with a person she barely knows (Liev Schreiber) but met in Shanghai after marrying Walter (which she did to get away from her mother). At this point we get to meet nuns played by actors I will look for in the future, and a General I want to see in more movies, as well as Kate's "protector" who doesn't really speak but is just adorable!
Their personalities are so different, and they do not know each other at all. In a way, their neighbor, sensing Kate's tension and sadness, helps to find her something to keep her busy and to put Kate right in Walter's daily path. All of these things are going on as the "Nationalists" begin uprising against the British for being in their country even though Walter is there to do nothing but help and save lives, and even Kate finds a way with her neighbor's assistance to help. The movie is 1920's, very proper, educational, incredible scenery and Edward Norton just keeps on getting better and better in every successive role, as does Ms. Watts. The film is captivating. I have watched it at least ten times and still don't tire of it. If you enjoy the British accent and want to see beautiful scenery overclouded by the horrors of cholera, and watch a young couple survive a completely irrational marriage, then this will keep you enthralled for a couple of hours if not more. Enjoy.
Movie Review: Lavish & Sophisticated Remake of a Classic Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
Produced by it's two stars, Watts & Norton, this film takes the viewer to a time & place ripe with beauty and fraught with danger. Like all remarkable stories, The Painted Veil takes the viewer on a journey; not just from 1920's London to Shanghai and deep into the Chinese interior, but through the human heart. Through Kitty and Walter Frane, whose relationship will prove as challenging as the cholera epidemic decimating the countryside, we discover the depth and capacity that exist within the human being for change, forgiveness and love.
The cinematography is so evoctive that one feels the oppressive humidity of the season on the Chinese plains and hillsides.
Ms. Watts classic features and clipped precise Britishness, work perfectly for the thoughtless and vapid Kitty in the early days of the film. It is only deep into the film, that one senses the true gifts of Ms. Watts as an actor, as with one look or movement she conveys the pain and courage of a woman discovering her true self.
His boyish good looks might have hindered believability in playing a man of such complex and contradictory nature, but fortunately, Edward Norton is more than matinee idol good-looks. Norton is a brilliant and instinctual performer who slips chameleon-like into each new role. His Walter is the man each and every audience member can understand, because we've each and everyone experienced great joy, great anger, the urge for revenge and ultimately the need to forgive and begin again. Norton's movements and indeed his vocal range are small to non-existant throughout much of the film. So much so, that when he does indeed make the grand gesture its affects are deeply felt. It is not often one can refer to a studied performance without sounding as if the performer relied on acting techniques , but there is a strong sense of intelligence, without the loss of real emotion in each of Mr. Norton's performances and the Painted Veil is no exception.
Liev Schreiber, as the caddish married lover of Naomi Watts' Kitty Frane, reminded me of William Powell or Errol Flynn. Mr. Schreiber adds his own special touch of class to an already stylish little film gem.
Just a beautiful film to be relished.
Movie Review: a tale worth telling, beautifully told
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like a story that deals with the basics of human experience---what love is and what it is not... you will enjoy this film. If you want lots of noise, speed and sensation, rush down to your local Cineplex where you'll find lots of trash that will satisfy your taste.
We see how the main characters are thrown together by circumstances and how their decisions shape their lives. I didn't read the novel so I can't comment on how well the film adapts it but I found it to be very complete and satisfying, which is not always the case when a screenwriter has to cram hundreds of pages into into a two hour script.
You can tell that this was a labor of love for Ed Norton, whose performance as the repressed doctor is perfect. His character is awkward and shy, more at home in a laboratory than at a party. He is hardly attractive and so is powerfully attracted to his opposite--a beautiful, careless socialite who has nothing on her mind other than disliking her dreadful mother. Her mother forces her marry, or be cut off from support, so having no other option in sight, she accepts the proposal of this hapless doctor.
A recipe for disaster! They go to China, where she is temporarily distracted, by another expatriot, a charming, married fellow, who possesses all the excitement that her poor husband lacks and they soon fall into something like love. When her husband discovers her affair he forces her to accompany him to rural China, where cholera is ravaging the population. Wow! If she thought life back in London was a bummer, this brings misery to a whole new level!
Besides cholera, there is political unrest, so danger presents itself on all sides. She and her husband soon detest each other and she tries to contact her ex-lover to rescue her. Alas! she learns that she was only one of a string of dalliances that this cad had indulged in.
I won't divulge the rest of the story. See this and enjoy it for yourself!
Naomi Watts' performance equals Norton's and they are fascinating to watch as each of them evolves. The shots of China are lovely without being overwhelming. This is a perfectly satisfying movie on all levels.