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The Painted Veil

(2006, Rated PG-13, Drama, Starring Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Toby Jones)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 13, age appropriate for kids over 15; suggested age 15.
  • Is it any good?

    3.0
  • Common Sense says

    Well-acted period drama is lush and haunting.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 15 and Up

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    A spoiled young woman commits adultery, then redeems herself by caring for victims of disease, including her husband.
  • Violence:

    Cholera wreaks havoc on victims -- some effects revealed in brief, graphic images; a group of men chases Kitty and she falls, runs, and is finally trapped by the group; her bodyguard fires his gun; some fighting when infected refugees attempt to enter the village; flyers call for "death to foreign invaders."
  • Sex:

    Adulterous affair shown in tense, passionate, short scenes (passionate embracing under covers, covert flirtations); heavy drinking leads to Kitty and Walter's sexual encounter one night in China (his bare bottom is visible as he gets out of bed in the morning); Waddington has a young lover.
  • Language:

    Very mild: one use of "damn," and several uses of "god."
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Social drinking (on occasion to drunkenness); cigarette smoking; Kitty and Walter have "crippling" hangovers after a night of drinking; Waddington and his girlfriend smoke something narcotic.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About The Painted Veil

Parents need to know that this drama based on a 1925 novel isn't for most kids, despite its PG-13 rating. It's a serious, often painful contemplation of marriage under duress, featuring angry arguments as well as images of suffering cholera patients. Sexual intimacy includes one early, awkward scene in which a young bride invites her husband to her bed (he's embarrassed) and a couple of adulterous situations (a couple in bed, hiding from the jilted husband), as well as a couple of drunken scenes (in one, a white British man admires his much younger Chinese girlfriend; in another, a married couple has sex, with brief shots of naked bottoms and thighs). Characters drink, and couple of supporting players smoke cigarettes.

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Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about how Walter and Kitty end up appreciating each other's strengths and forgiving each other's failings. How do their circumstances -- surrounded by acute suffering -- encourage them to see past themselves and, as a result, see themselves more clearly? What are the movie's themes? Which characters are redeemed, and how? How does it stress the importance of communication (and show the consequences of a lack of communication)? What's lacking in Kitty and Walter's marriage? What makes a marriage good or bad?

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 16
    Lives in Arizona
    I rate this title iffy for age 2 and give it 4.0

    Painted Veil

    I was surprised by how good this movie was...it has a feel of an old-fashioned Hollywood romance, which isn't such a bad thing. I was entertained the whole way through, and Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are both perfect. Definitely worth seeing.

  2. Teen Reviewer Age 16
    I rate this title on for age 2 and give it 4.0

    OMG, sooo good

    OMG this movie is soo good, incredibly well acted, and such a beautiful story. so sad with hurt, pain, realization and redmption

  3. I rate this title on for age 2 and give it 5.0

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