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The Painted Veil

The majority of the films released during the fourth quarter of the year "” or 'awards season' as the studios consider it "” often strive to affect their audiences by incorporating an overwhelming sense of prestige. More often than not, the filmmakers douse their films with so many Oscar bait ingredients that the end result is an oversaturated and entirely synthetic bid for awards glory. Much rarer is a film like The Painted Veil "” a film that effortlessly captures an old-fashioned classicism without hinting at the slightest bit of pretense.

The Painted Veil is rooted in a grand literary text of the same name by Somerset Maugham and tells the story of an impassive Bacteriologist named Walter (Edward Norton) who moves to China in the midst of a cholera epidemic. Along for the journey is his reluctant wife and upper class London socialite Kitty (Naomi Watts). Wed after a whirlwind courtship devoid of the intensity of love, or any real emotional attachment for that matter, Kitty's interests quickly start to wander and she begins an affair with English Vice Consul Charlie Townsend (Live Shreiber).

Walter finds out about her adulterous behavior and blackmails Kitty into accompanying him to the tiny village of Mei-tan-fu where he will be conducting research on the rapidly spreading disease. Norton plays these early scenes without a hint of empathy and yet he instills an honest flair to the obtuseness of his cruel request.

The Painted Veil initially resembles a standard illicit love affair story but then takes a quick detour by sending its two unhappy characters out of England, essentially having the characters' emotional journeys begin where you might expect them to end.

Maugham's classic text has been carefully adapted by Ron Nyswaner and many of his literary techniques are readily apparent. At the beginning of the film, Kitty remarks in a flower shop, "It does seem silly to put all that effort into something that's just going to die." A grand sense of foreshadowing pervades the screen.

John Curran, who previously directed the underwhelming We Don't Live Here Anymore, exhibits a David Lean-like craftsmanship with the way he beautifully captures the exotic Chinese locations and lets the visual image consume the film just up to the brink of overshadowing his characters. Like Lean did with his epic films, Curran sprinkles the locations with a team of talented actors who gamely embody their characters. Watts and Norton deliver two equally brilliant performances that keep the film's depiction of their relationship carefully balanced. Classic British actors Toby Jones and Diana Rigg also offer stellar supporting work.

The narrative proceeds in a careful and methodical manner that makes it easy to guess how the film will ultimately conclude but where the characters eventually end up is not as important as

how they get there. In a time when so many movies rely on fractured editing and narrative incomprehensibility, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a film with such a straightforward and reverent approach to filmmaking.

Movie Grade: A-

Synopsis:

Based on the classic novel by W. Somerset Maugham, “The Painted Veil” is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and takes her along. Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth.