AAA review: The Painted Veil (2006), Romantic Sad Love Story Happened in Ancient China

In 2006, the film "The Painted Veil" directed by director John Curran was officially released. This film is a love film starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. It is mainly about the upper class elite women in London. In order to avoid the flamboyant circle of communication and the urging of her parents, Kitty married the bacteriologist Walter who fell in love with her at first sight. After arriving in Shanghai, China with Walter, Kitty did not like Walter and did not like his profession. So when she was in Shanghai, she has an affair with a humorous married man. After knowing that he was sad and angry, Walter decided to save the marriage. He decided to take Kitty to China where he was contributing to the plague. Where the nobleness and dedication of Walter infects Kitty, Kitty is looking for a new meaning of life in the disappointment of valentine. She helps local monastery take care of orphans. After they have a common ideological foundation, they gradually open their hearts. But in the end, Walter died of a plague, and Kitty returned to London with her children.

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The film was adapted from the well-known author W. Somerset Maugham's novel "The Painted Veil", and the original background of the original creation was in the early 20th century. Western society in the early twentieth century is experiencing an unprecedented spiritual crisis. The industrial revolution brought unprecedented prosperity to the west, and brought material prosperity and comfort to the western people. However, the material pursuit continually eroded people's spiritual realms, which in turn caused human alienation. Many people of insight who have a sense of urgency about the future of western civilization have turned their eyes to the East.

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They hope to find something missing in Western culture in the ancient and simple eastern culture to save western civilization. Maugham is one of the writers. Maugham's rich travel experience has provided him with a lot of creative material for his creation of this novel. After briefly explaining the emotional experience of the protagonists in the lens with flashback and interlude, the film transferred the main body of the film to the raging China. The director showed the Chinese background in the 1920s with high saturation. It has a strong sense of history and distinctive characteristics of the times. In the intertwining of the female protagonist and her feelings, the director inserted the anti-imperialist application of China, and the darkness of the struggle between the local warlords and the national government, and the spread of the plague. While rendering the film's scary atmosphere, the film also sent people's emotions. The sublimation is more impressed by the contrast, and gradually pushes to the climax of emotions.

Movie Trailer from youtube
Throughout the whole work, this film "The Painted Veil" co-produced by China and the United States tells the love story between Walter and Kitty in a true and wonderful picture, faithfully reproducing the Kitty in the novel. The little woman who fled the London flashy social circle, changes from the unrealistic fantasy of life, to the courageous change of the responsibility of life. The film shows a touching love story between men and women in a realistic image style. Under the director's lens, both the characters, the style and the emotions reveal a vicissitude of beauty, special story background and shooting elements. These make it a unique piece of cultural value.

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/14202-the-painted-veil?language=en-US
Critic: AA