The Painted Veil (2006)

Director:

John Curran

Writers (WGA):

Ron Nyswaner (screenplay)
W. Somerset Maugham (novel)

Release Date:

19 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people

Plot:

A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Cholera | China | Epidemic | Doctor

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Catherine An	...	Hostess
Bin Li	...	Te-Ming
Bin Wu	...	Student 1
Alan David	...	Mr. Garstin
Marie-Laure Descoureaux	...	Sister St. Joseph
Sally Hawkins	...	Mary
Juliet Howland	...	Dorothy Townsend
Toby Jones	...	Waddington
Lorraine Laurence	...	Sister Maryse
Johnny Lee	...	Angry Chinese Man
Li Feng	...	Sung Ching
Gesang Meiduo	...	Amah
Edward Norton	...	Walter Fane
Yin Qing	...	Student 2
Ian Renwick	...	Geoffrey Denison (as Ian Rennick)

Also Known As:

Mian sha (China: Mandarin title)
Al otro lado del mundo (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Der bunte Schleier (Germany) (DVD title) [de]
Duvak (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
El velo pintado (Spain) [es]
Falin ásýnd (Iceland) [is]
Il velo dipinto (Italy) [it]
Kärlekens slöja (Sweden) [sv]
Kærlighedens slør (Denmark) [da]
Kirjava huntu (Finland) [fi]
Kjærlighetens slør (Norway) [no]
Le voile des illusions (France) [fr]
Malowany welon (Poland) [pl]
O Despertar de Uma Paixão (Brazil) [pt]
O Véu Pintado (Portugal) [pt]
Oslikani veo (Croatia) [hr]
Színes fátyol (Hungary) [hu]
Vammeno peplo (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some mature sexual situations, partial nudity, disturbing images and brief drug content.

Runtime:

USA:125 min | Argentina:125 min

Country:

China | USA

Language:

Mandarin | English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:(Banned) | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-11 | Ireland:12A | Hong Kong:IIA | Denmark:11 | UK:12 (DVD rating) | UK:12A (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42973) | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Beijing Film Studio, Beijing, China

Company:

WIP

Trivia:

German Oscar-Award-winning director Caroline Link was attached to the project, also working on her own version of the screenplay.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene in the orphanage where Walter kisses Kitty goodbye before he leaves for the camp, Kitty is sleeping with a child in her arms. The child is lying on his side as Walter kisses her, then a wider angle is shown and the child is all of a sudden sleeping on his back.

Quotes:

Walter Fane: Do you like flowers?
Kitty Fane: Not particularly, no. Well, I mean yes, but we don't really have them around the house. Mother says, "Why purchase something you can grow for free?" Then, we don't really grow them either. It does silly really. To put all that effort into something that's just going to die.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Reste Avec Moi

A most transporting film.

I think is the tone of the film –– and by that I mean everything from the cinematography to the dialogue the music and, most of all, the nuanced performances –– which, because it is so consistent and so consistently sublime renders the film far apart from the ordinary.

I was interested to see that Naomi Watts and Edward Norton produced this film. No matter which of them (or, for that matter, any one of the film's fine cast) is on the screen, we are fully involved: they invite us into their story, they invite us to care.

Even if one were to strip away the performances and the story there is still the sheer beauty of the Chinese countryside, filmed to perfection.

Just go, and see for yourself.