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:

China | Englishwoman Abroad | Nun's Habit | Cholera | Mother Superior

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

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:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Beijing Film Studio, Beijing, China

Company:

WIP

Trivia:

The film was originally being developed by Yari's Stratus Film. When Stratus executive, Mark Gill, left for Warner Independent, he brought this project with him.

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:

Le Furet Du Bois Joli

Remake of Garbo Classic

Naomi Watts is every bit as good as Garbo was in the 1934 version, and Ed Norton is outstanding. Great supporting cast as well - Diana Rigg is almost unrecognizable as a Mother Superior, and Liev Schreiber is, as always, terrific as a slimy lowlife. Based on one of Somerset Maugham's best stories, this is a movie that will satisfy anyone looking for an old-fashioned, romantic drama about love lost and love earned. The social quandary of British women after the first World War, which created a generation of unwilling spinsters, is taken as seriously by the filmmakers as the emergence of a new China standing up to its Colonial oppressors. Watts' character's journey from spoiled, selfish Daddy's girl in 1920's fun-loving London to a mature woman in a deprived, cholera-infested third-world country is harrowing.