Romance

Drama

The Painted Veil

Emotion Pictures

The Mark Gordon Company

Class 5 Films

Warner China Film HG Corporation

Stratus Film Co.

Bob Yari Productions

The Colleton Company

Dragon Studios

Salon Films

Syndicate Films

Warner Independent Pictures

China Film Co-Production Corp.

Canada

United States of America

Français

普通话

English

Edward Norton

Naomi Watts

Liev Schreiber

Toby Jones

Diana Rigg

Anthony Wong Chau-Sang

Xia Yu

Juliet Howland

Ian Renwick

Li Bin

Zoe Telford

Marie-Laure Descoureaux

Lorraine Laurence

Maggie Steed

Li Feng

Yan Lü

Catherine An

Bill Marcus

Maurice Herschtal

Shobauro Hiratsuka

John Cann

Yin Qing

Alan David

John Curran

Ron Nyswaner

W. Somerset Maugham

Sara Colleton

Jean-François Fonlupt

Bob Yari

Antonia Barnard

Yasmine Golchan

Ming Beaver Kwei

Mark Gordon

Robert Katz

Jiakun Zhang

Alexandre Desplat

Stuart Dryburgh

Alexandre de Franceschi

Ellen Lewis

Juhua Tu

Wang Hong

John Mahaffie

Diva Magpayo

Simon Njoo

Glen Wilson

Peta Lawson

Sherrie Liu

Byron Wilson

Wayne Lemmer

Skip Lievsay

Paul Menichini

Derek Vanderhorst

Gerry Nucifora

Joel Dougherty

Tim LeBlanc

David Lee

Ruth Myers

Peter McGinn

This movie seemed vaguely familiar to my wife like we had seen it before, but it all seemed new to me when we recently watched it. We both enjoyed it. I wasn’t concerned when a few reviews remarked that it moved slowly, as we have always appreciated movies that build a quiet story carefully, and mostly this one did that.

My only criticism is that at the outset of the movie, I didn’t quite believe that Walter was in love with Kitty. He said he was, but I wonder if a scene or two showing him falling for her ended up on the cutting room floor. He merely seemed to stalk her around the party and want to marry her before he left for China. Similarly, Kitty falling for Charlie didn’t seem well constructed. It felt like one scene they stared at each other, flirted a bit, and the next scene they are in bed.

But once I suspended that bit of disbelief, the film was great. Gradually Kitty develops as a character, and her marriage begins to be rebuilt from the rubble of her earlier actions.

The final scene, a few years after the action in the bulk of the movie, brings the story full circle in a satisfying manner. All around a fine movie well worth watching patiently.

I enjoyed this film a good more than I expected I would, based on the poor critical response and so-so viewer scores. Fortunately, Norton and Watts saved the film by turning in phenomenal performances. The real problem is that we never get totally invested in the characters. Nevertheless, The Painted Veil is a real love story.

The Painted Veil Trailer

Best Movies

The Painted Veil

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Edward Norton

Naomi Watts

Liev Schreiber

Toby Jones

Diana Rigg

Anthony Wong Chau-Sang

Xia Yu

Juliet Howland

Ian Renwick

Li Bin

Box office

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