The Painted Veil
by John Curran (II)
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DVD details
Actor: Diana Rigg, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Toby JonesDirector: John Curran (II)
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 125 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-08
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Painted Veil
DVD Review: Gorgeous but grim
Summary: 4 Stars
Amazing performances by Watts and Norton, but the winner here is China itself, with the most amazing scenery, atmosphere, and resilence, as life goes on despite the epidemic.
Kitty as a heroine is flawed and selfish, Walter rigid and hurt, and brittle in his anger. The lover seems all she could want and more, until she realizes Walter is capable of love, whereas her 'lover' is not.
I wish they had had more time before the bitter ending, but other than that, it was a lovely if dark film.
DVD Review: The boredom leads to adultery
Summary: 4 Stars
The enormous challenge to make us to forget to Greta Garbo was done through this sophisticated and mature emotional situation around an unsatisfied woman and his bore husband who just thinks about himself and his absorbing work. His young, adorable and refined wife is seduced trying to find her life another sense. But the proposed solution to get away from this explosive situation will lead both to understand the meaning if this feeling in the middle of the hell.
Naomi Watts proves she may carry on her shoulders the most demanding and exigent dramatic roles you want. Her expressive gestures, body language and suggestive gaze really catapulted her in this so many times told portrait of adultery and not confessed passions behind close doors.
Watch it. It will not disappoint you.
DVD Review: Really gorgeous, if slightly uneven
Summary: 4 Stars
Everything about the movie was great apart from the last section. It is almost as if they suddenly looked around and thought, oh dear, film's too long. I would have liked to have seen them 'in love' a little bit more before the denouement.
Having said that, the first part of the film meanders like a slow river, with most of the action in flashback. So perhaps an evening out of the two might have worked.
They really manage to capture the heat and conditions of the times, and Naomi Watts, while playing a selfish byotch of a character, really transforms in the course of the film in a believable manner. And as a result, he transforms in our eyes.
Diana Rigg is great too as a catalyst for them both. And the ending was pitch perfect. I ended up really feeling for all the characters in this tense, chilling, but ultimately heartwarming movie.
DVD Review: Lovely but unsatisfying
Summary: 3 Stars
It is the 1920s in England, and Walter (Edward Norton), a shy, bookish doctor marries vivacious Kitty (Naomi Watts) who just wants to get away from her mother. They move to China where Kitty strays with a dashing diplomat while Walter decides to go up-country to fight a cholera epidemic.
This tale of repression and desire left me strangely cold. Norton lamely attempts a British accent but is never even remotely convincing as the awkward doctor; he just looks too American. Watts is fine as the spoiled rich girl, but the script lets them both down; the loveless marriage is never satisfactorily resolved and the overall feeling of detachment and disinterest spreads to the audience. Neither Walter nor Kitty is likeable or sympathetic; he's too stubborn and proud and she's too shallow and self-centered.
Although the photography is gorgeous and the look of the film is quite lush, the story is dreary and dull. Disappointing.
DVD Review: Real love that only real life can bring
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely adore this film. I have watched for the third time and still, I could view it again. It is so beautiful; a true story, so real and timeless.
What is love?
What moves us to become better human beings?
It amazes me how touching this story is. Here is this couple, a shallow, selfish, young woman and an idealistic, ambitious doctor, venturing forth to a strange new life in an equally strange world: Imperialist China circa the early 1900's. We watch the Naomi Watts character grow from god-awful, self-centered brat into a whole and remarkably mature woman. The beauty of the surroundings, the subtle references to English Empire in its last phases, the curious neighbor played superbly by Toby Jones. And let's not forget the amazing, Edward Norton. So, so, well-acted, with a top-rated cast (the marvelous Diana Rigg).
If you haven't had the experience of seeing this film, I envy you!
Description of The Painted Veil
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.Produced by Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil works well as a movie--even better as an actor's showcase. The year is 1925. When her domineering mother pressures her to marry, Kitty (Watts) settles for shy bacteriologist Walter (Norton). Then Walter is transferred from London to Shanghai and the lonely and bored Kitty drifts into an affair with married diplomat Charlie (Liev Schreiber). When Walter finds out, he makes a startling proposition: either Kitty accompanies him to the cholera-infested countryside or he'll divorce her. With no other prospects, she comes along on what looks like a double-suicide mission. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil was adapted by Philadelphia's Ron Nyswaner (who knows a little something about infectious diseases). As two previous versions made little impact--despite Garbo's presence in the 1934 melodrama--John Curran's film is sure to stand as definitive. Interestingly, Norton, who studied Chinese history at Yale, chose Watts as his co-star, while Watts chose Curran, for whom she appeared in 2004's underrated We Don't Live Here Anymore. Filmed on location, the handsome production is, in many respects, just as old-fashioned as its source material--sex is merely suggested and Kitty is shocked that their English neighbor (Toby Jones) has a Chinese lover--but the ending packs a feminist twist. Mostly though, The Painted Veil is about the acting, and Watts and Norton, along with Diana Rigg as a disillusioned Mother Superior, have rarely been better. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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