The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham. Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Toby Jones, Anthony Wong Chau Sang and Liev Schreiber appear in the leading roles.
The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil
1925 novel
by W. Somerset Maugham
Sara Colleton
Jean-François Fonlupt
Bob Yari
Edward Norton
Naomi Watts
- Naomi Watts
- Edward Norton
- Liev Schreiber
- Toby Jones
- Diana Rigg
- Lü Yan
Alexandre de Franceschi
- Bob Yari Productions
- The Mark Gordon Company
- The Colleton Company
- Class 5 Films
- Dragon Studios
- Warner China Film HG
- China Film Group Corporation (China)[1]
- Warner Independent Pictures (United States)
- Belga Film (Belgium)[1]
- December 20, 2006 (US)
- December 29, 2006 (China)
- April 27, 2007 (UK & IRL)
125 minutes
China
United States
Canada
Belgium
English
Chinese
French
$19.4 million[2]
$26.9 million[1]
This is the third film adaptation of the Maugham book, following a 1934 film starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall and a 1957 version called The Seventh Sin with Bill Travers and Eleanor Parker, both of these aforementioned are originally produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (since WB's sister company, Turner Entertainment currently owns the rights for the first 2 film adaptations, based on the original novel of the same name).
Plot[edit]
On a brief trip to London in the early 1920s, earnest and bookish bacteriologist Walter Fane is dazzled by Kitty Garstin, a London socialite. He proposes; she accepts ("only to get as far away from [her] mother as possible"), and the couple have a honeymoon in Venice. They travel to Walter's medical post in Shanghai, where he is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases. They are ill-suited, with Kitty much more interested in parties and the social life of the British expatriate community.
She meets Charles Townsend, a married British vice consul, and they have an affair. When Walter finds out, he threatens divorce for adultery unless she accompanies him to a village in a remote area of China where he has volunteered to treat victims of an unchecked cholera epidemic. Kitty begs for a quiet divorce, which he initially refuses, but later says only if Townsend will leave his wife Dorothy to marry her. Charles declines to accept, despite earlier claiming his love for Kitty.
The couple embark upon an arduous, two-week-long overland journey to the mountainous inland region, which is considerably faster and much easier if they traveled by river, but Walter is determined to make Kitty as uncomfortable as possible. Upon their arrival in Mei-tan-fu, she discovers they will be living in near-squalor, far removed from the town. Their cheerful neighbor Waddington is a British deputy commissioner living in relative opulence with Wan Xi, a young Chinese woman.
Walter and Kitty barely speak. Except for a cook and a Chinese soldier assigned to guard her during unrest due to the Chinese civil war, she is alone for long hours. After visiting an orphanage run by a group of French nuns, Kitty volunteers and she is assigned to work in the music room. She is surprised to learn from the Mother Superior that her husband loves children, especially babies. She begins to see him differently, that he can be selfless and caring. When he sees her with the children, he also realizes she is not as shallow and selfish as he had thought. Their marriage begins to blossom in the midst of the epidemic. She soon learns she is pregnant, but is unsure who the father is. Walter – in love with Kitty again – assures her it doesn't matter.
The cholera epidemic takes many victims. Just as Walter and the locals are starting to get it under control – due to his creating a system of aqueducts to transport clean water – cholera-carrying refugees from elsewhere arrive in the area, and Walter sets up a camp for them outside town. He contracts the disease and Kitty lovingly nurses him, but he dies, and she is devastated. Bereft and pregnant, she leaves China.
Five years later, Kitty is seen in London, well-dressed and apparently happy, shopping with her young son, Walter. They are picking flowers for their visit to Walter's grandfather. They meet Townsend by chance on the street, and he suggests that Kitty meet with him. Asking young Walter his age, he realizes from the reply that he might be the boy's father.
Kitty rejects his overtures and walks away. When her son asks who Townsend is, she replies: "No one important, darling".
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Prior to 1999, producer Sara Colleton sought to develop a script for The Painted Veil. The script frequently was redrafted as it was intended both to be close to the source material and to take liberties with the source material, specifically to create a feminist version. Actor Edward Norton became involved with the project in 1999.[3] Norton discussed why he liked the project,
Marketing[edit]
The film's post-production schedule was slated to conclude in late summer 2006, but did not finish until November. According to Laura Kim, the marketing and publicity head of Warner Independent Pictures, the delay slowed award and media recognition for the film. Other studios were duplicating DVDs of their films for awards organizations, so The Painted Veil was unable to get first priority in processing. When The Painted Veil had a limited release in the United States on December 20, 2006 in the cities of Los Angeles and New York City, the meager marketing campaign for the film was criticized. Half a dozen people associated with the film complained that Warner Independent Pictures conduct of the marketing campaign was failing to gain the film enough attention. Film critic Rex Reed of The New York Observer wrote, "Nobody can understand why Warner Independent Pictures is keeping this movie such a secret; it is filled with Oscar possibilities that should be shouted from the rooftops."[5]
The firing of Mark Gill, one of the initial producers of The Painted Veil and who brought it to Warner Independent Pictures, was cited as a reason for the small scale of the film's marketing campaign. Director John Curran said to Warner Independent "Any transition is not going to be ideal. When the guy who has gotten you on board is gone, you're kind of exposed."[5] Others also criticized the studio for not providing a large enough marketing budget, pointing out that the previous year's Good Night, and Good Luck had a more successful campaign with television and newspaper ads. The Painted Veil eventually expanded to 23 more markets on December 29, 2006, with additional cities on January 5, 2007. Warner Independent hosted 80 screenings of The Painted Veil in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London as well as to various Hollywood guilds, to promote the film.[5]
Release and reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Painted Veil initially had a limited release in four theaters in the United States on December 20, 2006, grossing $51,086 over the opening weekend. The film gradually expanded its showings in the United States and Canada, peaking at 287 theaters on the weekend of January 26, 2007.[8] The Painted Veil ultimately grossed $8,060,487 in the United States and Canada and $18,850,360 in other territories for a worldwide total of $26,910,847.[1]
Critical reception[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of 143 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 71/10. The website's consensus reads: "Visually, The Painted Veil has all the trappings of a stuffy period drama, but Norton and Watts's deft portrayals of imperfect, complicated characters give the film a modern-day spark."[9] On Metacritic, the film has received a score of 69 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote the story seems
Legacy[edit]
In 2024, while promoting Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, Naomi Watts was asked to name her most underrated film and chose The Painted Veil, saying "I thought it was a really lovely film—that nobody saw. It just sort of went by."[22]