The Painted Veil (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-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.
This is the third Film adaptation
of the Maugham book, following a 1934 film
starring Herbert Marshall
and Greta Garbo
and a 1957 version called The Seventh Sin
with Bill Travers
and Eleanor Parker
. These films had been acquired by Warner Bros.
(parent of Warner Independent Pictures, which is now defunct) by the time the 2006 adaptation was released.
Walter Fane (Edward Norton
) is dazzled by Kitty Garstin (Naomi Watts
), a vivacious, vain, and vacuous London
socialite. He proposes; she accepts ("only to get as far away from [her] mother as possible"), and the ill-suited couple embark on a tense relationship in China. Following a honeymoon
in Venice
, the couple go to Shanghai
, where the doctor is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases.
Kitty meets Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber
), a married British vice consul, and the two engage in a clandestine affair. When Walter discovers his wife's infidelity, he seeks to punish her by threatening to divorce her on the grounds of adultery
if she doesn't accompany him to a small village in a remote area of China
, where he has volunteered to treat victims of an unchecked cholera
epidemic
sweeping through the area. Kitty begs to be allowed to divorce him quietly and he agrees, provided Townsend will leave his wife Dorothy and marry her. When she proposes this possibility to her lover, he, despite earlier claiming his love for Kitty, declines to accept, and she is compelled to travel to the mountainous inland region with her husband. They embark upon an arduous, two-week-long overland journey, which would be considerably faster and much easier if they traveled by river, but Walter is determined to make Kitty as unhappily uncomfortable as possible. Upon their arrival in Mei-tan-fu, she is distressed to discover they will be living in near squalor, far removed from everyone except their cheerful neighbor Waddington, a British deputy commissioner living with a young Chinese woman in relative opulence.
Walter and Kitty barely speak to each other and, except for a cook and a Chinese soldier assigned to guard her, she is alone for long hours. After visiting an orphanage run by a group of French nuns, Kitty volunteers her services, 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, and in this setting she begins to see him in a new light as she learns what a selfless and caring person he can be. When he sees her with the children, he in turn realizes she is not the shallow, selfish person he thought her to be. As Walter's anger and Kitty's unhappiness subside, their marriage begins to blossom. 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. Just as the local cholera problem is coming under control, ailing refugees from elsewhere pour into the area, forcing Walter to set up a camp outside town. He contracts the disease and Kitty nurses him, but he dies, devastating her.
Five years later, while shopping with her young son Walter in London, Kitty meets Townsend by chance on the street. He suggests the two get together and asks young Walter his age, realising from the reply that he could be Walter's father. Kitty, however, rejects his overtures and walks away. When her son asks who Townsend is, she replies "No one important".
version. Actor Edward Norton
became involved with the project in 1999. Norton explained his attraction to the project, "It's very much a story about people getting beyond the worst in themselves and figuring out how to look at each other honestly, forgive each other for their failings and get to a better place... When I read it, I was very affected by it because in it I saw my own failings." The actor suggested casting Naomi Watts
for the role of Kitty, which did not happen until Watts proved herself a bankable star with her performances in Mulholland Drive
(2001) and 21 Grams
(2003). When Watts joined the project, she recommended director John Curran
, with whom she had collaborated on the 2004 film We Don't Live Here Anymore
. The director's expertise with We Don't Live Here Anymore convinced Watts and Norton that he would be capable of depicting the dysfunctional relationship in The Painted Veil. The project began development at producer Bob Yari
's Stratus Films, but when Stratus executive Mark Gill left to start Warner Independent Pictures
, he brought the project with him. Gill began production of the film in partnership with Yari. Gill was later fired before the film's completion by Warner Bros.
production president Jeff Robinov, which later led to the film's marketing difficulties.
Yari and Warner Independent Pictures collaborated with a Chinese partner who was granted approval over the script and the finished film. The partnership permitted a budget of $19 million for The Painted Veil. When the Chinese production company reviewed the film, it was unhappy with the depiction of the Chinese uprising and the cholera victims, requesting that the scenes be revised. Norton and Curran expressed concerns that their studio accepted the censorship too quickly, with the director threatening to remove his name from the film. Their pressure resulted in limiting cuts from the film to only 38 seconds' worth.
and Norton collaborated on the screenplay for the film. The 1925 novel by author W. Somerset Maugham
was considered one-dimensional, so Norton altered the story so the character Walter Fane had a more enhanced role. The character was also rewritten to make his peace with his wife Kitty, leading to them falling in love with each other. Norton explained, "I like to think that we didn't change the book so much as liberate it. We just imagined it on a slightly bigger scale, and made external some of what is internal in the novel." Norton described the novel as "almost unremittingly bleak" and believed that the author had thought that British colonials were unlikely to change. The actor explained of the change to the story, "I went on the assumption that if you were willing to allow Walter and Kitty to grow... you had the potential for a love story that was both tragic and meaningful." Norton considered The Painted Veil to be in the spirit of films like Out of Africa (1985) and The English Patient
(1996), seeing it as "rooted in really looking at the way that men and women hurt each other".
Director John Curran
suggested setting the film during 1925, when the events of the Chinese nationalist
movement were taking place. Norton, who had studied Chinese history at Yale University
, agreed with the suggestion. To detail scenes from the time period, Curran, Norton, and Nyswaner relied on excerpts from historian Jonathan Spence
's 1969 book To Change China, which covered the inept efforts of Western advisers during these years. Norton described the character Walter Fane served as "the proxy for the arrogance of Western rationalism", explaining about Fane's confusion at the lack of gratitude for his help, "Walter means well, but he's the folly of empire, and that adds a whole new dimension to what happens in the story. It's a metaphor for the way empires get crushed."
. The director did not want to build a set for the cholera-stricken village, instead seeking out an untouched parcel of land in China. He found Huang Yao, which served as the location for the village. The director described the location, "Even the Chinese crew members were amazed at the place we found... It was like going back in time." According to Nyswaner, a large amount of time of the film production was spent negotiating with the Chinese government for the completion of the film, as there were disagreements over issues in the script. Most of the film was shot in Guilin
, Guangxi
. Director John Curran commented, "We wanted this movie to be distinctly Chinese. We didn’t want it to look like a film that you could shoot in Canada
or Mexico
or Italy
." After a search of location in Hunan
province, the scouts chose the location in Guilin, Guangxi for the film. Line producer Antonia Barnard states that initially the film, like the novel, was going to be set in Hong Kong, however the crew realized Hong Kong of the time period would be difficult to replicate, thus the story was altered so it would take place in Shanghai; the crew shot "Shanghai for Shanghai in the period, and shot London scenes in Shanghai as well."
.
There are also three songs not listed on the official soundtrack. All of them are performed by the The Choir of the Beijing Takahashi Culture and Art Centre:
, 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 experienced a limited release in the United States
on December 20, 2006 in the cities Los Angeles
and New York City
, the meager marketing campaign for the film was criticized. The lack of attention caused a half dozen people associated with the film to complain about how Warner Independent Pictures
was conducting the marketing campaign. 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."
The firing of Mark Gill, one of the initial producers of The Painted Veil 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
explained about the move 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." 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 was eventually able to expand to 23 more markets on December 29, 2006 with additional cities on January 5, 2007. Warner Independent also hosted 80 screenings of The Painted Veil in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London
as well as various Hollywood guilds to promote the film.
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. The Painted Veil ultimately grossed $8,060,487 in the United States and Canada and $14,525,904 in other territories for a world wide total of $22,586,391.
, The Painted Veil has received a 75% 'fresh' rating based on 133 reviews. On the similar website Metacritic
, the film has received a metascore of 69 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, considered generally favorable reviews.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said the story seems "so unlikely for modern adaptation, particularly when, as is the case here, it hasn’t been refitted with a contemporary hook or allegory for audiences who wouldn’t know Maugham from Edna Ferber
. Instead, as nicely directed by John Curran and adapted to the screen by Ron Nyswaner, this version of the story lulls you by turning Maugham’s distaff bildungsroman
into a fine romance. Even better, the new film gives us ample opportunity to spend time with Ms. Watts, whose remarkable talent helps keep movie faith and love alive, even in the tinniest, tiniest vehicles . . . An inveterate stealer and masticator of scenes, Mr. Norton is very fine here, especially early on, before his billing gets the better of the story and he begins riding around heroically on horseback . . . Whether through craft or constitution, [he] invests Walter with a petty cruelty that makes his character’s emotional thaw and Kitty’s predicament all the more poignant."
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times
said the film "has all the elements in place to be a great epic, but it fails to connect, to paraphrase Maugham's contemporary E.M. Forster, the prose with the passion. It's impeccable, but leaves you cold."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "If you're suspecting this third movie version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel may carry the infectious dullness of prestige filmmaking, rest easy . . . the film is a period piece
propelled by emotions accessible to a modern audience . . . The Painted Veil has the power and intimacy of a timeless love story. By all means, let it sweep you away."
Meghan Keane of the New York Sun
said the film "may at times threaten to fall into an abyss of sentimentality, and it has moments that seem mere transitions to propel the plot, but it manages a charming historic portrait without insulting the audience's intelligence."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
thought the story "feels remote and old-school despite a frankness the two previous film versions lacked." He added, "Present scripter Ron Nyswaner makes some solid fundamental decisions, beginning with the telescoping down to the barest minimum the London-set opening . . . All the same, the film is still dominated by the stuffy, repressed personality of Fane, whose emotional stonewalling of his wife produces a stifling of Kitty's naturally more vivacious, if common, personality. Despite the extremes of human experience on view, there is a certain blandness to them as they play out, a sensation matched by the eye-catching but picture-postcard-like presentation of the settings . . . Even the ultra-capable Norton and Watts aren't fully able to galvanize viewer interest in their narrowly self-absorbed characters."
won the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
. Desplat also won an award for Best Original Score from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
for both The Painted Veil and The Queen
(2006).
Ron Nyswaner
won the National Board of Review Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
but lost to Jason Reitman
for Thank You for Smoking.
Edward Norton
was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead but lost to Ryan Gosling
in Half Nelson
. The San Diego Film Critics Society
honored him for his work in this and The Illusionist and Down in the Valley
.
The London Film Critics' Circle nominated Toby Jones Best British Supporting Actor of the Year.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by John Curran
John Curran (director)
John Curran is an American film director and screenwriter.Born in Utica, New York, Curran studied illustration and design at Syracuse University, then worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, and production designer in Manhattan before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1986...
. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner
Ron Nyswaner
Ronald L. Nyswaner is an American screenwriter and film director.Nyswaner wrote his first screenplay for the Susan Seidelman film Smithereens. After two other notable screenplays for Swing Shift and Mrs...
is based on the 1925 novel of the same title
The Painted Veil (novel)
The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham. The title is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet which begins "Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life"....
by W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
. Edward Norton
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
, Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
, Toby Jones
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
, Anthony Wong Chau Sang
Anthony Wong Chau Sang
Anthony Wong Chau-sang is a Hong Kong Film Award-winning Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. He is regarded as one of the most notable actors in Hong Kong.-Biography:...
and Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
appear in the leading roles.
This is the third Film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the Maugham book, following a 1934 film
The Painted Veil (1934 film)
The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The music score was by Herbert Stothart,...
starring Herbert Marshall
Herbert Marshall
Herbert Marshall , born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk...
and Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
and a 1957 version called The Seventh Sin
The Seventh Sin
The Seventh Sin is a 1957 film based on the 1925 novel The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.It was adapted for the screen by Karl Tunberg and directed by Ronald Neame...
with Bill Travers
Bill Travers
William Lindon-Travers was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.-Life and career:...
and Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker is an American screen actress. Her versatility led to her being dubbed Woman of a Thousand Faces, the title of her biography by Doug McClelland.- Early life :...
. These films had been acquired by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(parent of Warner Independent Pictures, which is now defunct) by the time the 2006 adaptation was released.
Plot
On a brief trip back to London, earnest, bookish bacteriologistMicrobiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
Walter Fane (Edward Norton
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
) is dazzled by Kitty Garstin (Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
), a vivacious, vain, and vacuous London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
socialite. He proposes; she accepts ("only to get as far away from [her] mother as possible"), and the ill-suited couple embark on a tense relationship in China. Following a honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, the couple go to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, where the doctor is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases.
Kitty meets Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
), a married British vice consul, and the two engage in a clandestine affair. When Walter discovers his wife's infidelity, he seeks to punish her by threatening to divorce her on the grounds of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
if she doesn't accompany him to a small village in a remote area of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, where he has volunteered to treat victims of an unchecked cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
sweeping through the area. Kitty begs to be allowed to divorce him quietly and he agrees, provided Townsend will leave his wife Dorothy and marry her. When she proposes this possibility to her lover, he, despite earlier claiming his love for Kitty, declines to accept, and she is compelled to travel to the mountainous inland region with her husband. They embark upon an arduous, two-week-long overland journey, which would be considerably faster and much easier if they traveled by river, but Walter is determined to make Kitty as unhappily uncomfortable as possible. Upon their arrival in Mei-tan-fu, she is distressed to discover they will be living in near squalor, far removed from everyone except their cheerful neighbor Waddington, a British deputy commissioner living with a young Chinese woman in relative opulence.
Walter and Kitty barely speak to each other and, except for a cook and a Chinese soldier assigned to guard her, she is alone for long hours. After visiting an orphanage run by a group of French nuns, Kitty volunteers her services, 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, and in this setting she begins to see him in a new light as she learns what a selfless and caring person he can be. When he sees her with the children, he in turn realizes she is not the shallow, selfish person he thought her to be. As Walter's anger and Kitty's unhappiness subside, their marriage begins to blossom. 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. Just as the local cholera problem is coming under control, ailing refugees from elsewhere pour into the area, forcing Walter to set up a camp outside town. He contracts the disease and Kitty nurses him, but he dies, devastating her.
Five years later, while shopping with her young son Walter in London, Kitty meets Townsend by chance on the street. He suggests the two get together and asks young Walter his age, realising from the reply that he could be Walter's father. Kitty, however, rejects his overtures and walks away. When her son asks who Townsend is, she replies "No one important".
Cast
- Edward NortonEdward NortonEdward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
as Walter Fane - Naomi WattsNaomi WattsNaomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
as Kitty Garstin Fane - Toby JonesToby JonesToby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
as Waddington - Diana RiggDiana RiggDame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
as Mother Superior - Anthony Wong Chau SangAnthony Wong Chau SangAnthony Wong Chau-sang is a Hong Kong Film Award-winning Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. He is regarded as one of the most notable actors in Hong Kong.-Biography:...
as Colonel Yu - Liev SchreiberLiev SchreiberIsaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
as Charles Townsend
Development
Prior to 1999, producer Sara Colleton sought to develop a script for The Painted Veil. The script was frequently redrafted, being written to be close to the source material, to take liberties with the source material, and to create a feministFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
version. Actor Edward Norton
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
became involved with the project in 1999. Norton explained his attraction to the project, "It's very much a story about people getting beyond the worst in themselves and figuring out how to look at each other honestly, forgive each other for their failings and get to a better place... When I read it, I was very affected by it because in it I saw my own failings." The actor suggested casting Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
for the role of Kitty, which did not happen until Watts proved herself a bankable star with her performances in Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive (film)
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
(2001) and 21 Grams
21 Grams
21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro....
(2003). When Watts joined the project, she recommended director John Curran
John Curran (director)
John Curran is an American film director and screenwriter.Born in Utica, New York, Curran studied illustration and design at Syracuse University, then worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, and production designer in Manhattan before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1986...
, with whom she had collaborated on the 2004 film We Don't Live Here Anymore
We Don't Live Here Anymore
We Don't Live Here Anymore is a 2004 drama film directed by John Curran. It is based on the short stories We Don't Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus.Set in Washington state, the film was shot around Vancouver.-Cast:...
. The director's expertise with We Don't Live Here Anymore convinced Watts and Norton that he would be capable of depicting the dysfunctional relationship in The Painted Veil. The project began development at producer Bob Yari
Bob Yari
Bob Yari is an Iranian-American film producer.He grew up in New York City, and studied cinematography at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
's Stratus Films, but when Stratus executive Mark Gill left to start Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
, he brought the project with him. Gill began production of the film in partnership with Yari. Gill was later fired before the film's completion by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
production president Jeff Robinov, which later led to the film's marketing difficulties.
Yari and Warner Independent Pictures collaborated with a Chinese partner who was granted approval over the script and the finished film. The partnership permitted a budget of $19 million for The Painted Veil. When the Chinese production company reviewed the film, it was unhappy with the depiction of the Chinese uprising and the cholera victims, requesting that the scenes be revised. Norton and Curran expressed concerns that their studio accepted the censorship too quickly, with the director threatening to remove his name from the film. Their pressure resulted in limiting cuts from the film to only 38 seconds' worth.
Writing
Screenwriter Ron NyswanerRon Nyswaner
Ronald L. Nyswaner is an American screenwriter and film director.Nyswaner wrote his first screenplay for the Susan Seidelman film Smithereens. After two other notable screenplays for Swing Shift and Mrs...
and Norton collaborated on the screenplay for the film. The 1925 novel by author W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
was considered one-dimensional, so Norton altered the story so the character Walter Fane had a more enhanced role. The character was also rewritten to make his peace with his wife Kitty, leading to them falling in love with each other. Norton explained, "I like to think that we didn't change the book so much as liberate it. We just imagined it on a slightly bigger scale, and made external some of what is internal in the novel." Norton described the novel as "almost unremittingly bleak" and believed that the author had thought that British colonials were unlikely to change. The actor explained of the change to the story, "I went on the assumption that if you were willing to allow Walter and Kitty to grow... you had the potential for a love story that was both tragic and meaningful." Norton considered The Painted Veil to be in the spirit of films like Out of Africa (1985) and The English Patient
The English Patient (film)
The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The film, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture...
(1996), seeing it as "rooted in really looking at the way that men and women hurt each other".
Director John Curran
John Curran (director)
John Curran is an American film director and screenwriter.Born in Utica, New York, Curran studied illustration and design at Syracuse University, then worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, and production designer in Manhattan before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1986...
suggested setting the film during 1925, when the events of the Chinese nationalist
Chinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism , sometimes synonymous with Chinese patriotism refers to cultural, historiographical, and political theories, movements and beliefs that assert the idea of a cohesive, unified Chinese people and culture in a unified country known as China...
movement were taking place. Norton, who had studied Chinese history at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, agreed with the suggestion. To detail scenes from the time period, Curran, Norton, and Nyswaner relied on excerpts from historian Jonathan Spence
Jonathan Spence
Jonathan D. Spence is a British-born historian and public intellectual specializing in Chinese history. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 1993 to 2008. His most famous book is The Search for Modern China, which has become one of the standard texts on the last several...
's 1969 book To Change China, which covered the inept efforts of Western advisers during these years. Norton described the character Walter Fane served as "the proxy for the arrogance of Western rationalism", explaining about Fane's confusion at the lack of gratitude for his help, "Walter means well, but he's the folly of empire, and that adds a whole new dimension to what happens in the story. It's a metaphor for the way empires get crushed."
Filming
Filming took place on location in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The director did not want to build a set for the cholera-stricken village, instead seeking out an untouched parcel of land in China. He found Huang Yao, which served as the location for the village. The director described the location, "Even the Chinese crew members were amazed at the place we found... It was like going back in time." According to Nyswaner, a large amount of time of the film production was spent negotiating with the Chinese government for the completion of the film, as there were disagreements over issues in the script. Most of the film was shot in Guilin
Guilin
Guilin is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of far southern China, sitting on the west bank of the Li River. Its name means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant Sweet Osmanthus trees located in the city...
, Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
. Director John Curran commented, "We wanted this movie to be distinctly Chinese. We didn’t want it to look like a film that you could shoot in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
or Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
or Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
." After a search of location in Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province, the scouts chose the location in Guilin, Guangxi for the film. Line producer Antonia Barnard states that initially the film, like the novel, was going to be set in Hong Kong, however the crew realized Hong Kong of the time period would be difficult to replicate, thus the story was altered so it would take place in Shanghai; the crew shot "Shanghai for Shanghai in the period, and shot London scenes in Shanghai as well."
Music
The official soundtrack is composed by Alexandre DesplatAlexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British...
.
- "The Painted Veil"
- "Gnossienne No 1" (composed by Erik SatieErik SatieÉric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
) - "Colony Club"
- "River Waltz"
- "Kitty's Theme"
- "Death Convoy"
- "The Water Wheel"
- "The Lovers"
- "Promenade"
- "Kitty's Journey"
- "The Deal"
- "Walter's Mission"
- "The Convent"
- "River Waltz"
- "Morning Tears"
- "Cholera"
- "The End of Love"
- "The Funeral"
- "From Shanghai to London"
There are also three songs not listed on the official soundtrack. All of them are performed by the The Choir of the Beijing Takahashi Culture and Art Centre:
- "Le Furet Du Bois Joli" (Composed by Pierre De Berville, Arranged by Evan Chen)
- "A la Claire Fontaine" (Vocals by N. Porebski / L. Descamps, Piano by Roger Pouly, Courtesy of Les Petits Minous). This is heard after the funeral of Dr. Fane.
- "Reste Avec Moi" (French translation of "Abide with Me", with words by Henry Lyte, Music by William Monk, Arranged by Evan Chen)
Marketing
The film's post-production schedule was initially 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 PicturesWarner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
, 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 experienced a limited release in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on December 20, 2006 in the cities Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the meager marketing campaign for the film was criticized. The lack of attention caused a half dozen people associated with the film to complain about how Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
was conducting the marketing campaign. Film critic Rex Reed
Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
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."
The firing of Mark Gill, one of the initial producers of The Painted Veil 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
John Curran (director)
John Curran is an American film director and screenwriter.Born in Utica, New York, Curran studied illustration and design at Syracuse University, then worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, and production designer in Manhattan before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1986...
explained about the move 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." 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.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Good Night, and Good Luck. is a 2005 American drama film directed by George Clooney. The film was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S...
had a more successful campaign with television and newspaper ads. The Painted Veil was eventually able to expand to 23 more markets on December 29, 2006 with additional cities on January 5, 2007. Warner Independent also hosted 80 screenings of The Painted Veil in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as well as various Hollywood guilds to promote the film.
Box office
The Painted Veil initially had a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in four theaters in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on December 20, 2006, grossing $51,086 over the opening weekend. The film gradually expanded its showings in the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, peaking at 287 theaters on the weekend of January 26, 2007. The Painted Veil ultimately grossed $8,060,487 in the United States and Canada and $14,525,904 in other territories for a world wide total of $22,586,391.
Critical reception
On the film review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, The Painted Veil has received a 75% 'fresh' rating based on 133 reviews. On the similar website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film has received a metascore of 69 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, considered generally favorable reviews.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said the story seems "so unlikely for modern adaptation, particularly when, as is the case here, it hasn’t been refitted with a contemporary hook or allegory for audiences who wouldn’t know Maugham from Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
. Instead, as nicely directed by John Curran and adapted to the screen by Ron Nyswaner, this version of the story lulls you by turning Maugham’s distaff bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
into a fine romance. Even better, the new film gives us ample opportunity to spend time with Ms. Watts, whose remarkable talent helps keep movie faith and love alive, even in the tinniest, tiniest vehicles . . . An inveterate stealer and masticator of scenes, Mr. Norton is very fine here, especially early on, before his billing gets the better of the story and he begins riding around heroically on horseback . . . Whether through craft or constitution, [he] invests Walter with a petty cruelty that makes his character’s emotional thaw and Kitty’s predicament all the more poignant."
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said the film "has all the elements in place to be a great epic, but it fails to connect, to paraphrase Maugham's contemporary E.M. Forster, the prose with the passion. It's impeccable, but leaves you cold."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "If you're suspecting this third movie version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel may carry the infectious dullness of prestige filmmaking, rest easy . . . the film is a period piece
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
propelled by emotions accessible to a modern audience . . . The Painted Veil has the power and intimacy of a timeless love story. By all means, let it sweep you away."
Meghan Keane of the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
said the film "may at times threaten to fall into an abyss of sentimentality, and it has moments that seem mere transitions to propel the plot, but it manages a charming historic portrait without insulting the audience's intelligence."
Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
thought the story "feels remote and old-school despite a frankness the two previous film versions lacked." He added, "Present scripter Ron Nyswaner makes some solid fundamental decisions, beginning with the telescoping down to the barest minimum the London-set opening . . . All the same, the film is still dominated by the stuffy, repressed personality of Fane, whose emotional stonewalling of his wife produces a stifling of Kitty's naturally more vivacious, if common, personality. Despite the extremes of human experience on view, there is a certain blandness to them as they play out, a sensation matched by the eye-catching but picture-postcard-like presentation of the settings . . . Even the ultra-capable Norton and Watts aren't fully able to galvanize viewer interest in their narrowly self-absorbed characters."
Awards and honors
Composer Alexandre DesplatAlexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British...
won the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
. Desplat also won an award for Best Original Score from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
for both The Painted Veil and The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
(2006).
Ron Nyswaner
Ron Nyswaner
Ronald L. Nyswaner is an American screenwriter and film director.Nyswaner wrote his first screenplay for the Susan Seidelman film Smithereens. After two other notable screenplays for Swing Shift and Mrs...
won the National Board of Review Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
National Board of Review Awards 2006
The 78th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2006, were given on 6 December 2006.-Top 10 films:#Letters from Iwo Jima #Babel#Blood Diamond#The Departed...
and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Screenplay is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.-1980s:* 1985: The Trip to Bountiful - Horton Foote** After Hours - Joseph Minion** Blood Simple - Joel and Ethan Coen...
but lost to Jason Reitman
Jason Reitman
Jason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...
for Thank You for Smoking.
Edward Norton
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead but lost to Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
in Half Nelson
Half Nelson (film)
Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck; it stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. The film was scored by Juno Award winning Canadian band - Broken Social Scene. Gosling received an Academy Award nomination for lead actor...
. The San Diego Film Critics Society
San Diego Film Critics Society
The San Diego Film Critics Society is an organization of film reviewers from San Diego-based publications.Each year the SDFCS meets to vote on their San Diego Film Critics Society Awards for films released in the same calendar year....
honored him for his work in this and The Illusionist and Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley is a movie starring Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse and Rory Culkin. The film made its debut in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 13, and made its limited theatrical release in North America in May 2006.-Plot:Set in modern-day San...
.
The London Film Critics' Circle nominated Toby Jones Best British Supporting Actor of the Year.