The Painted Veil (2006)

Synopsis of The Painted Veil

A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than Walter's feelings, as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed. Kitty and Walter move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover, the British Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter learns of his wife's infidelity, he becomes furious, and impulsively volunteers to travel to China to work in a village stricken with a major cholera epidemic. While Walter's actions are meant to punish Kitty rather than reflect his own benevolence, the daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship. The Painted Veil is the third screen adaptation of Maugham's best-selling novel of the same name; a 1934 version starred Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall, while Eleanor Parker and Bill Travers played the leads in a 1957 remake titled The Seventh Sin. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Theatrical Feature Running Time:

125 mins

Director(s):

John J. Curran

Writer(s):

Ron Nyswaner

Producer(s):

Sara Colleton, Jean-Francois Fonlupt, Naomi Watts

Theatrical MPAA Rating:

PG13(Brief Nudity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content)

• 2006 - Boston Society of Film Critics - Best Cinematography (Runner-up)
• 2006 - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Original Score
• 2006 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Music Score
• 2006 - National Board of Review - Best Adapted Screenplay

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