The Painted Veil | 
| Director: John Curran
Actors: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Catherine An, Bin Li
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $27.95
Buy Used: $2.69
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Rating:  185 reviews
Sales Rank: 2701
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Surround Sound, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD58557D
UPC: 012569585577
EAN: 0012569585577
ASIN: B000NOIX48
Theatrical Release Date: January 19, 2007
Release Date: May 8, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
THE STORY OF A YOUNG ENGLISH COUPLE, WALTER, A MIDDLE CLASS DOCTOR & KITTY, AN UPPER-CLASS WOMAN, WHO GET MARRIED FOR THE WRONG REASON & RELOCATE TO SHANGHAI, WHERE SHE FALLS IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE. WHEN HE UNCOVERS HER INFIDELITY, HE TAKES A JOB IN CHINA & TAKES HER ALONG WHICH BRINGS NEW MEANING TO THEM.
Amazon.com
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 180 more reviews...
 A story that stays with you long after viewing! June 23, 2009
Zeek (Lancaster, PA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Painted Veil takes an adult look at marriage relationships without all the cynical man-bashing that one expects from a movie containing adultery and revenge. The melodrama is there, but it's done so quietly, the movie oozes maturity.
In the 1920's while still in London working as a bacteriologist- a less than glamorous career to be sure- Walter (Edward Norton) falls in love with Kitty (Naomi Watts), at first sight. Kitty, a member of the upper-class, spoiled and immature for all her "on the shelf" years, is less inclined regarding Walter. But in a fit of quiet rage against her cold mother, she accepts his proposal and moves with him to Shanghai where he has been transferred.
She quickly becomes bored with Shangai's society and is lured into an illicit relationship with another man, (played by Watts' real life lover Liev Schreiber).
When Walter learns of the affair, he takes matters into his own hands by giving her a choice: Either she goes with him into the interior of China where a cholera outbreak has occurred in a remote village or expect a rather messy divorce where the details of her infidelity will be made known to all. When Kitty's lover makes it painfully evident that he has no intention of leaving his own wife, and left with no other choice, she leaves with Walter to a life she never wanted. Right away Kitty realizes Walter is serious about punishing her, when he takes the more arduous route over land rather than by sea.
Once there, they find the village is remote, full of superstitious inhabitants afraid of and angry at the white foreigners taking over their country. Eventually, she decides to ignore the turmoil, because she's bored with sitting alone all day and then getting the cold shoulder every night. She ventures into town and ... for the first time in her life, starts down the path of selflessness.
What struck me from the beginning of the film was the fact that Norton was not playing the manly husband of every young woman's dreams as you might expect, but rather the dull scientist lost in his own little world of lab work and writing. It wasn't until his wife cheated that his character changed and grew. The nuances of the change struck me as one that could only be portrayed by a high-quality actor such as he, and definitely made the film better because of it.
Watt's character grew as well, but the fact that she never really portrayed Kitty as "rebellious" or "bratty", as Kitty was written to be, the changes feel less striking. In the end it just seemed to me that Kitty's character actually started matching Watt's portrayal from the beginning. This spoiled the movie for me. In contrast to Norton, I would have liked to see a less subtle portrayal on her part.
Still, the combined growth of Walter and Kitty is what makes the film interesting. In addition, it takes all the rules of romance and turns it on its ear, but does it so believably that I never minded it one bit. (If you are a romance writer looking for inspiration for a twist on the moldy plots out there now-a-days, this film is an excellent start.)
The cinematography for The Painted Veil is arresting. I believe the film was shot almost entirely on location and the beauty of the interior of China cannot be denied.
I'm giving this one a 4 out of 5-It hangs with you, that's for sure. (As I think about it almost nine months after seeing it, I can still recall the feeling of it.) I'll probably never watch it again, but I'm glad that I did- If for Edward Norton alone!
 Relationship Need Fixing? May 24, 2009
James Carragher (New York)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Take your spouse into a cholera epidemic. That seems to be part of the message of The Painted Veil, where egocentrics turn noble in the face of a scourge and British ingenuity gets fresh water back into town. If that all sounds a little Empire-ish and 20's-ish, so be it. Maugham wrote the novel, after all, in 1925. And if the characters are mostly walking cardboard, some very good actors give them a dash of life, including Naomi Watts as Kitty, Diana Rigg as Mother Superior, and -- especially -- Toby Jones as Waddington. The on location settings are beautiful, and the film works nicely as a travelogue for journeys to the Chinese interior, assuming that epidemic has stayed quelled. I watched The Painted Veil, enjoyed it, and found not one thing in it that will last in memory beyond tomorrow morning. It did, in short, what some movies set out to do -- entertain. And sometimes that's enough.
Gorgeous but grim May 8, 2009
Accent Marketing Group (Cheyenne, WY)
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.
The boredom leads to adultery April 22, 2009
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
Really gorgeous, if slightly uneven April 21, 2009
HerStory Books (New York, NY)
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.
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