A hastily married couple face up to their differences against the backdrop of a 1920s cholera epidemic in
Edward Norton and Naomi Watts produce and act in this period drama about reconciliation of the two protagonists. This film, which is based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham is an emotionally powerful film exploring human relationships with each other and with God. The cholera epidemic adds an edge to the drama which revolves around the desire for forgiveness.
I loved the way this film built up the relationship between Norton and
The tension of colonial authority is another issue that dances around the fringe of this film. Though it is not fully developed, the comment by a Chinese soldier – ‘I would feel differently about you if your guns were not pointed at my people’ is one of the most poignant and resonant in the film. There seems to be a detachment between the actions of the democratically elected government and the individual.
The way tragedy is piled up in the film is the only question I have about whether I enjoyed the film or not. As I mentioned before, one glimmer of hope is very quickly extinguished and a seeming reconciliation is tainted by the inability to enjoy it. It is not a dissatisfying ending, but, in my opinion, if there had been a longer scene expressing the delight of the villagers at their salvation, the tragedy would not have felt so spliced in.
There is a lot more that I would like to say about this film, and I may write again another time, but for now, the last thing to briefly mention is the final scene, which I thought had a touch of class. I enjoyed the way it slickly showed through revisiting a past acquaintance, how Kitty had changed totally through her experience.
2 comments:
Why is it called 'The Painted Veil'?
Aha!
Percy Bysshe Shelley writes:
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,—behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o’er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it—he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
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