The Painted Veil (2006)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 143
Fresh: 106 | Rotten: 37
Visually, The Painted Veil has all the trappings of a stuffy period drama, but Norton's and Watts's deft portrayals of imperfect, complicated characters give the film a modern-day spark.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 10
Visually, The Painted Veil has all the trappings of a stuffy period drama, but Norton's and Watts's deft portrayals of imperfect, complicated characters give the film a modern-day spark.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 53,768
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Movie Info
A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than
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Cast
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Naomi Watts
Kitty Fane -
Edward Norton
Walter Fane -
Liev Schreiber
Charlie Townsend -
Toby Jones
Waddington -
Diana Rigg
Mother Superior -
Catherine An
Hostess -
Li Bin
Te-Ming -
Wu Bin
Student 1 -
Alan David
Mr. Garstin -
Marie-Laure Descoureaux
Sister St. Joseph -
Sally Hawkins
Mary -
Juliet Howland
Dorothy Townsend -
Lorraine Laurence
Sister Maryse -
Johnny Lee
Angry Chinese Man -
Feng Ligang
Sung Ching -
Gesang Meiduo
Amah -
Yin Qing
Student 2 -
Ian Rennick
Geoffrey Denison -
Cheng Shihan
Warlord Kwei -
Liang Sigie
Student 3 -
Maggie Steed
Mrs. Garstin -
Henry Sylow
Walter Junior -
Zoe Telford
Leona -
Lucy Voller
Doris Garstin -
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Colonel Yu -
Lu Yan
Wan Xi -
Yu Xia
Wu Lien -
Ma Yun
Student 4 -
Lin Zheng
Chinese Opera Star -
Yao Tian Hua
Singing Orphan -
Wu Di
Singing Orphan -
Liu Yue Qi
Singing Orphan -
Li Zhuo Er
Singing Orphan -
Hu Jia Yi
Singing Orphan -
Guo Yu Tong
Singing Orphan -
Zhao Wei Xin
Singing Orphan -
Chen Xiangqi
Singing Orphan -
Shi Tong Xuan
Singing Orphan -
Tang Yu Xin
Singing Orphan -
Cheng Yu Yang
Singing Orphan -
Guo Jia Hui
Singing Orphan -
Huang Yi Yuan
Singing Orphan -
Xu Shu Hao
Singing Orphan -
Fei Yue
Singing Orphan -
Meng Ting Yu
Singing Orphan -
Cheng Zhu Yue
Singing Orphan -
Gao Qiao Jia Li
Singing Orphan -
Ming Fang
Singing Orphan -
Tan Ya Zuo
Singing Orphan -
John Cann
Businessman in Colony C... -
Maurice Herschtal
Businessman in Colony C... -
Bill Marcus
Businessman in Colony C... -
Shobauro Hiratsuka
Businessman in Colony C... -
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All Critics (148) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (110) | Rotten (37) | DVD (16)
The production values are characteristically sumptuous, William Daniels' photography is lustrous, and Boleslawski directs with suitable flair.
Top CriticThe always surprising Watts creates a woman at once contemporary and retro. And Norton, as a producer as well as star, concedes enough space for Schreiber and the effortlessly fascinating Jones to earn their own spotlights.
Sweeping vistas, period-piece sets, impeccable literary source, a little stolid at times, but ultimately quite impressive.
The movie makes for a good old-fashioned wide-screen wallow.
Exquisitely filmed and finely acted.
The acting is quite splendid, especially in the vicinity of the quite splendid Watts.
This stab at grand romance fails to satisfy.
Well-acted period drama is lush and haunting.
Norton's effect and Watts' able portrayal are not enough to move the misogyny of the narrative.
Contents itself with making the Maugham work less prissy.
It's a wallow and I confess to wholeheartedly enjoying the plunge.
Concealed passions are revealed as life takes unexpected turns and what initially seems like an act of vengeance becomes the making of the central characters
The Painted Veil has a real pulse. It sweeps you up in the characters' journey from the beginning, and keeps you riveted from moment to moment.
The Painted Veil offers up a vision of hope in the midst of unreasonable social rules and despicable acts of cruelty.
...a finely crafted product that can hardly fail to touch one's heart.
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John Curran controls the redemptive spirit of Maugham's book with merciful restraint, and gets excellent performances all round.
Audience Reviews for The Painted Veil
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Kitty Fane: As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue.
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- Mother Superior: When love and duty are one, then grace is within you.
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- Kitty Fane: If no one spoke unless they had something to say, the human race would lose the power of speech.
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- Walter Fane: It was silly of us to look for qualities in each other that we never had.
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- Kitty Fane: I've never thought of you in that way.
- Walter Fane: I think I improve greatly upon acquaintance.
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