Love in the Time of Cholera

The Good German isn't the only film this holiday season steeped in the golden age of Hollywood. Though not a technical exercise like Soderbergh's latest experiment, John Curran's The Painted Veil, starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, simply feels like a late-40s studio picture. Everything from the lighting, performances, to the particular way the narrative unfolds – it's as if the ghost of Jack Warner was presiding over the production. This is the third filmed version of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name, and the only one that uses its China setting as more than mere exotic backdrop. And while it is closest in spirit to the source material, there's still some third act tweaking (initiated by Norton, from what I've heard) that veers quite a bit from the novel. Like Curran's last film, the magnificent We Don't Live Here Anymore, The Painted Veil once again has the subject of marital infidelity at its core. Spoiled socialite Kitty (Watts) is a thoroughly modern 1920s woman (she plays Satie on the piano and prefers to have sex with the light on – shocking!) who marries the prim and priggish biologist Dr. Walter Fane (Norton) for all the wrong reasons. Accompanying him to Shanghai (where he is stationed), it's not long before she enters into a torrid affair with white-suited smoothie Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber). Learning of the affair, Walter decides to exact revenge by dragging Kitty to Mei-tan-fu, a cholera-infested village that he has volunteered to work in. The disease isn't the only threat the couple faces – rising anti-imperialist sentiment from Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT makes leaving the house a danger without a military guard. With her husband ignoring her, and left with nothing to do, Kitty is forced to accept the gravity of her situation. She befriends their neighbor, Deputy Commissioner Waddington (Infamous' Toby Jones), though he spends most of his days smoking opium and frolicking with his Chinese mistress. Naturally, Kitty begins to reflect on her own life, her marriage, and her feelings towards Walter. Like her character in We Don't Live Here Anymore, Watts is once again playing an adulterous woman trapped in a problematic marriage, although here her exit strategies are severely limited. Though there is a decidedly political subtext to the film, its approach is quite tendentious. Walter's arrogance towards the Chinese officials and his disrespect for local customs serve as metaphors for English colonial attitudes, yet not once are we given a local perspective on the events, nor is there a single Chinese character whose function extends beyond simple narrative device. It's a bit of a shame, considering the film's efforts to include the rise of nationalism as a reaction to British presence. This isn't necessarily to the film's detriment, though it certainly adds to the nostalgic Hollywood feel. Unlike Richard Boleslawski's 1934 version (starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall), which placed a greater emphasis on the affair, the bulk of Curran's film is set in Mei-tan-fu, concentrating on Kitty and Walter's transformation. Unfortunately, Maugham's bleak tone isn't the stuff of cinematic love stories, and the resulting alterations to the doomed couple's relationship aren't all that convincing. The novel is Kitty's story, and I suspect Norton (who also produced the film) wanted to beef up Walter's role a bit. Both actors are well suited for their roles, though Norton's feigned (and strained) British accent occasionally results in him chewing some scenery. Curran's leap from directing a claustrophobic domestic drama to a romantic tragedy with an epic scope is impressive, and The Painted Veil is more than just your typical awards-season period film, though it's one you can still take your mom to see.

Comments

[colinr0380]

It sounds interesting. What was the third version of the novel?

[Filmbrain]

1957's The Seventh Sin. Bill Travers and Eleanor Parker play the leads, and both are pretty bad. The film's only saving grace is George Sanders as Waddington.

[dubarry]

it's hard to translate maugham well to the screen -- more so in the current social/political climate in which his lessons may seem quaint and unsophisticated, neither of which, btw, i believe to be true.

[steandric]

i just wonder why for the 1934 version, you say: "starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall" but for this version you say: "starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts" given the fact that naomi watts is listed as the lead before edward norton in all warner's publicity - the poster, the trailer, the film credits...etc.

there has been so much slight and snub of the talented oscar-nominated actress already, please do not join in and do it again. ?

[Filmbrain]

Stenandric --

I assure you there was no snub intended. I honestly can't say why I listed Norton over Watts -- I'll correct it to keep in line with the film's billing.

[girlwithamoviecamera]

i watched the film's trailer some time ago on apple's web site. and was horrified to see that you are basically shown the entire story! i am really disappointed when trailers do that... what's the point of going to the movies, then? (not that i would have wanted to go to see this film, but still!)

[James]

Simple alphabetization would put Garbo before Marshall and Norton before Watts. It's a fairly natural thing to do, Filmbrain.

[cynthia]

naomi watts was horrible in we don't live here anymore.