The Painted Veil

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Well-to-do Kitty (Watts) marries self-absorbed middle class doctor Walter Fane (Norton) for all the wrong reasons and is whisked away to Shanghai so he can continue his research of bacteria. Bored with life in the Far East, the restless Kitty embarks on a steamy affair with diplomat Charlie Townsend (Schreiber) and when Walter discovers her infidelity, he offers her an ultimatum: suffer the ignominy of a very public divorce or accompany him to a cholera-ravaged village in a remote part of Southern China. Kitty accepts the latter and away from the turmoil of life in a big city the couple try and make their marriage work. Based on Somerset Maugham's novel, which has now seen three attempts at a big screen adaptation,(one starring Greta Garbo), The Painted Veil is an old-fashioned period drama that concentrates more on the exploration of the individual within a romance rather than a love story, and it's a welcome slant. Curran's style doesn't intrude on the story, but the director can't help himself in slowing down the action so we can fully appreciate the lavish backdrops, which sometimes can diminish the acting going on in front of them. While Norton flexes his muscles in the leading romantic man department and Schreiber does his sinister best, The Painted Veil is without doubt Naomi Watts's film, who does better than expected stepping into Garbo's shoes.