Like the more successful Merchant-Ivory period dramas, The Painted Veil effectively blends highbrow literary pretension with powerful cinematic drama -- an evocative, passionate romantic triangle set among Brits living in 1920s China.
   Much of the story takes place in a village ravaged by a cholera epidemic, not exactly feel-good turf. Yet director John Curran -- who also directed We Don't Live Here Anymore, a contemporary drama of betrayal and infidelity -- infuses such ardency that what could have been a phenomenally depressing story emerges as an oddly invigorating and even hopeful one.
   Along with excellent performances from Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber and Toby Jones, The Painted Veil is beautifully designed, from costumes and sets to Stuart Dryburgh's lush cinematography.
   Those accomplishments are all the more impressive given it is shot entirely in China, where it's harder to come by the resources to which Western movie crews are accustomed.
   Adapted from W. Somerset Maugham's novel by screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, this version (filmed in 1934 and 1957) opens with a prologue in London, where spirited well-to-do Kitty (Watts) is in danger of becoming an old maid, to the shame of her mother, who has been urging her to find a husband.
   Longing to break away from rigid British social conventions, Kitty accepts a marriage proposal from awkward but adoring Dr. Walter Fane (Norton), a bacteriologist about to head back to his research work in Shanghai.
   "I think I improve greatly upon acquaintance," Walter meekly tells Kitty when she initially balks at his proposal.
   It's a nice change for Norton, who plays an earnest, gentle, boyish soul as skillfully as the darker, more dangerous roles for which he's known.
   In China, Kitty quickly finds British colonial life as stifling as what she left behind in London. And though Walter is a respectful husband, their marriage lacks fire.
   Kitty finds solace and passion in an affair with British vice consul Charles Townsend (Schreiber). Not the weak cuckold Kitty took him for, Walter reacts severely when he learns of her adultery, accepting a post in a remote cholera-plagued village and compelling his wife to come with him.
   There, Kitty pines for her lover, seethes over her husband and finds unlikely friendship with a neighbor, British colonial official Waddington (played by scenestealing Jones).
   Diana Rigg pops up unrecognizably as the mother superior at a convent where Kitty eventually makes herself useful, helping out in the classroom with children there. Kitty also re-evaluates her relationship with her husband and lover, surprising even herself with some of the choices she makes.
   With the horror of cholera all around, this is a grim story. Yet with lost-soul earnestness, Watts carries the film, preventing it from plummeting into toodepressing-to-care territory.

The Painted Veil
   BCast :
Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones, Diana Rigg

Director:
John Curran

Rating: PG-13
for mature sexual situations, partial nudity, disturbing images, drug content

Running time:
125 minutes

This story was published Friday, January 12, 2007