Review of The Painted Veil (2006) by Steve B — 09 Feb 2010

Don't let the fact that this sounds very depressing put you off. This is a really well crafted film, with great acting by all the cast and some absolutely stunning scenery. Watts and Norton are brilliant as Walter and Kitty Fane who's marriage is on the verge of collapse.

Norton the academic and Watts the shallow society girl move to a Cholera stricken village in China where Norton hopes to find a cure for the villagers suffering, and where has forced Watts along as punishment for her affair with Liev Shreiber's Charlie Townsend.

The fact that the couple move towards redemption in this terrible place gives the film its dramatic drive and emotional impact. The film reflects a society that's still struggling to escape the oppressive influence of the Victorian era and a generation that has already been ravaged by a devastating world war.

The sense of time is palpable, the culture-clash setting totally believable ... and there are some stand-out turns from the supporting cast (Diana Rigg as the Mother Superior of the local convent struggling to keep her faith with all that is going on around her a particular gem.

And Toby Jones as Waddington crumbling with hopeless indifference). Get a box of tissues and brave this film .. it will stay with you long after it has finished.