SPOILER WARNING: This article is rife with plot spoilers. Consider yourself warned.
Last summer, my landlord, who often recommends movies to me by leaving DVDs in my mailbox, passed along a film I had never heard of. “You’re going to love this,” she said, and when I began watching it, I knew immediately why she gave it such a hearty endorsement. Pat is fascinated by the fact that three summers ago I spent two months in China, and my affection for that country, with its incredible topography and five hundred-plus different people groups, is deep. As the opening credits move along the screen, subtle images of microscopes and rice fields occupy the background, which, underscored by anxious violins, hint at the story about to unfold.
The Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, was released in 2007. While it did not enjoy much box office success, the film garnered a Golden Globe Award (Best Original Score, Motion Picture) and two Independent Spirit Award nominations (Best Male Lead, Edward Norton and Best Screenplay, Ron Nyswaner), among other critical acclaim. Directed by John Curran (We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Praise, Down Rusty Down) and filmed predominantly on location in rural China, the cinematography immediately transported me back to the 72-hour long train ride I took from Beijing to Kashgar, where I saw a green so green that it made me feel like I was watching the passing rice fields and landscapes in Technicolor. Set in the middle of a cholera epidemic during the volatile era near the end of the Chinese Revolution, Ron Nyswaner’s screenplay, based on W. Somerset Maugham’s novel of the same title, draws from the historical context without requiring a thorough knowledge of the history.
Dr. Walter Fane (Norton) is understated and mild mannered, yet he skillfully evokes a calm strength that betrays his apparent meekness. He is bold at times, though quietly bold – the slow and steady nature of one who devotes his life to studying microorganisms in search of a cure for disease. For fans of Norton, this role highlights his wide range – it couldn’t be further from his characters in Fight Club, American History X, or his breakout role in Primal Fear. Watts, as Dr. Fane’s wife, Kitty, transforms seamlessly from bored housewife to unrepentant adulteress to humble helpmate. The storyline is helped along tremendously by an eclectic soundtrack combining European instruments and themes with traditional Chinese intonations, creating an audio mirror to the eastward journey the main characters make.
As their only neighbor in China, Mr. Waddington, Toby Jones gives a strong supporting performance. A major departure from his turn as Truman Capote in Infamous, Jones deftly achieves the delicate balance required to keep his relationship with Wan Xi, his much younger Chinese paramour, from being creepy. The affection he has for her is believable and, as the back-story of their relationship unfolds, acceptable, in light of the times they’re living in. The girl, portrayed by Chinese actress Yan Lu, utters only a few lines, but when she does speak, it is poignant. Kitty Fane wants to know why she loves Waddington so much. “Because he is a good man,” Wan Xi answers in Mandarin, and this summarizes the journey Kitty finds herself on as she, too, falls in love with a “good man.”
Without a doubt, the film is depressing, but that is part of what makes it such a strong story. It’s not melodramatic or indulgently depressing. Rather, it depicts betrayal of the worst kind, and the effect that betrayal has on a marriage, with raw, painful honesty. Too often, marriage is treated in film as disposable, and adultery is a necessary component of finding true happiness. Onscreen, adultery is rarely depicted as the evil it is, but in real life, the demise of a marriage is tragic.
However, while the initial betrayal that occurs between the Fanes sets up a clear protagonist and antagonist, as the film rolls along, the roles seem to reverse – the betrayed becomes the punisher, and the villain becomes the victim. This is another aspect of reality that comes through in this film: when a person, even a truly “good” person, is hurt, the innate human inclination toward revenge is ignited. The human condition is full of multitudes.
That said, the journey this couple embarks on, while at times painfully raw and bitter, is ultimately one of hope. Forgiveness never comes easily, and never without a great cost to the one who was wronged. However, when forgiveness happens, its power is tremendous, and that is what makes this film so strong. In it, the audience sees that forgiveness and restoration are possible and beautiful, and not only that, but when forgiveness happens, it can make a relationship stronger than it was before the offense was committed. Of course, in order for it to work, forgiveness must be offered and accepted, but when this transaction takes place, a beautiful restoration follows.
A French lullaby at the end of the film will haunt viewers for days after seeing it – a nod to the French nuns running the orphanage-cum-infirmary. Because of the cholera epidemic, the nuns suffer illness and death alongside their young Chinese charges. The Mother Superior, played by Diana Rigg, is a sympathetic character who has lost many close relations to the epidemic and all but forgotten why she devoted her life to God in the first place. Describing her relationship with God, she likens it to a husband and wife who have settled in to a quiet indifference toward one another, an honest admission that, sadly, is not uncommon among people devoted to Christian service.
A cholera epidemic is no trivial matter, and there are plenty of difficult scenes involving patients in rustic conditions, slowing dehydrating to death. Corpses line the streets, wailing is heard from within fragile huts, and hands poke out of shallow graves, fueling a sense of helplessness during an epidemic, which effectively makes an unlikely hero out of a mild-mannered, even-tempered bacteriologist, face set like flint as he pores over his notes, tests water specimens, and treats patients night and day in an effort to find a cure.
The film is redemptive and hopeful, to be sure, but it is not happy. When the credits roll, there is sorrow and sadness, though not the sort that accompanies regret. Instead, it’s the sorrow that fills one’s heart at the stark reminder that this is a deeply flawed world, with much to mourn. Yet mourning without regret is a gift in itself, and it is that hopeful reminder, along with excellent performances from the film’s leads, a beautiful score and powerful visual imagery, that makes The Painted Veil a definite “should see.”
The Painted Veil is rated PG-13 and is available on DVD.