The Painted Veil

A hastily married couple face up to their differences against the backdrop of a 1920s cholera epidemic in China.

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 Watts. Norton is a notable absentee in much of the film, which follows Kitty’s (Watt’s) loneliness and feeling of utter helplessness. We are prepared for a tragic ending throughout the film, hoping for the husband and wife to forgive their differences. A glimmer of hope is offered, but very quickly eclipsed as a fresh wave of cholera patients arrive at the town.

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.