The Painted Veil Review

December 12, 2006 11:05 AM
by [email]

The Painted Veil is a rich and complex tale of love, set amongst the backdrop of social change in 20’s China. Sweeping and powerful, despite feeling somewhat compressed, it is well worth seeing.

The Painted Veil opens in a rush -- this is not a slow developing period piece. Kitty (Naomi Watts) a pretty, playful woman in 1920’s English society, who is largely oblivious to the fact that she is not as grand she believes herself to be, is approaching that age where it is unbecoming to be unmarried, a fact her parents often remind her of. Kitty desires true love.

Walter Fane (Edward Norton), is a dedicated bacteriologist focusing on infectious diseases, who is as awkward as he is intelligent, and as much afraid of Kitty as drawn to her. He is decidedly middle class -- a civil servant, Kitty comments derisively -- and is stationed in Shanghai.

Walter proposes. Kitty is shocked, as she “hardly knows him,” and initially seems to reject the idea out of hand, until she overhears her mother conversing with a friend about her younger sister’s engagement and comments about how she has “given up” on Kitty. This is the first -- of many -- does of reality for Kitty. Hello Shanghai.

There, Kitty meets the dashing, charming and aggressive Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber), the English Vice Consul, a man who is everything Walter is not. A passionate affair ensues and Kitty believes she has found love. She feels guilty about Walter, suspecting he knows, but cannot help herself and, to a degree, blames him for not interceding as a “real man” would.

Walter does know and in self deprecating spite, he tells Kitty he has accepted a post dealing with a cholera outbreak in a remote village and that she must come with. She refuses and he tells her it is that or a divorce on the grounds of adultery. Showing for the first time he is not completely naïve, a compromise is reached, Walter will allow her to divorce him quietly if Townsend consents to divorce his wife and marry Kitty, otherwise she comes along. Walter knows the result in advance, as do we, it is Kitty whose eyes must be opened, again.

After this, Walter and Kitty both undertake journeys, against the tragic backdrop of a cholera epidemic. Both will be stripped bare before they can find themselves and each other. This period of examination is the strength of the movie. These characters are flawed, confused, weak and strong. What results is a far more complex and realistic love story than one typically expects at the movies.

Additionally, the cinematography is breathtaking, with many beautiful shots of the Chinese countryside, and there are times when the drama between Walter and Kitty takes a back seat to the simple drama of life and death and China’s interesting 20th Century transformation.

The biggest weakness is the vagueness with which time passes. This viewer felt like a far great period of time progresses than, it later becomes obvious, actually has. Ironically, in retrospect, this results in a feeling of compression. Although not a short movie (a solid two hours) another half-hour or even hour might have allowed a richer story to be told, as there are certain aspects that get rushed, especially towards the end.

Still, Walter and Kitty’s journey is one well worth taking. I recommend the Painted Veil and give it a solid *** stars.