The Painted Veil

What’s the Story?

Based on a 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel, THE PAINTED VEIL tracks the troubled marriage of Kitty (Naomi Watts) and Walter (Edward Norton). For Kitty, Walter is a means to escape her family's depressing expectations -- her mother (Maggie Steed) dotes on Kitty's sister while fully expecting the spoiled Kitty to dwindle into deserved spinsterhood. And so, when Walter, a bacteriologist, awkwardly proposes, Kitty says yes. The decision takes her about as far away from her mother, to Shanghai. Here she learns that Walter is a dedicated researcher and poor companion. To escape her disappointing situation, Kitty has an affair with British vice consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber), which only makes her lonelier. When Walter discovers the affair, his revenge is insidious: He forces her to accompany him to a cholera-besieged village. Like Kitty, Walter is a selfish, angry individual who sees himself reflected in every aspect of his world. Projecting onto Kitty his own needs and desires, he goes on to do the same with his work.

Is It Any Good?

The Painted Veil is the sort of movie-star vehicle that usually provides for outsized, capital "A" Acting. But John Curran's version is both lush and intimate, a showcase for subtle performances in which China becomes an "exotic" backdrop for white folks' troubles. While the Chinese characters remain mostly anonymous, either children or suffering disease victims, Kitty and Walter's exclusive self-absorption and lessons in generosity are tied to colonialist culture; they must unlearn their sense of entitlement and privilege.

While the movie alludes to historical events, Kitty and Walter's lessons tend to be on a more intimate scale. She meets Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Toby Jones), who embraces the locals in the usual ways: When Kitty asks what his much younger Manchu lover (Yu Lin) sees in him, he translates the girl's answer: "She says I'm a good man." As Kitty sees no good in men, the observation surprises her, but she begins to see that kindness can be learned.