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Editing film preview trailers together has become something of an art form in recent years with so many movies jostling for position in the multiplexes. The Painted Veil's trailer is a prime example of what to do right: loads of pretty shots of nice scenery together with some grand and powerful music (in this case from The Last Samurai). While I'm pretty sure I would have seen it anyway thanks to Edward Norton's presence in the film, I'm guessing that the effective trailer got a few more people interested. Thankfully it's not one of those trailers that completely misleads you into thinking the film is something that it's not. As it suggests, the film does indeed make considerable use of its Chinese locations, which are not only stunning but also quite a novelty as so few western films are given permission to be filmed in the country.
Based on the 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, the story is essentially a romance set mostly in rural China. Norton is a doctor who volunteers to travel to a village suffering from a cholera epidemic, and he drags along his unwilling wife (Naomi Watts). Watts occupies the centre of the narrative, with the film following her as she tries to deal with living in such uncompromising conditions. The first act, which alternates between the journey to the village and flashbacks to England and Shanghai, mostly concentrates on backstory, establishing how the couple met and why they now seem so unhappy together. Watts remains a very sympathetic character throughout while Norton's character is surprisingly cold and unlikeable most of the time (although he does have some justification for that).
The main flaw of the film is its rather laborious pacing. It's two hours long and feels like it, although it does manage to remain sufficiently engaging. Toby Jones plays an appealing minor character, an Englishman who's been living in the village for some time and has a Chinese mistress, and there's some gentle comic relief. While at no point was I bored, I found the film only really got engrossing in the later stages. The acting is very good across the board but it didn't feel as emotional as it could have, especially considering the events of the denouement. It's definitely worth a watch if the film appeals but it doesn't quite do enough to be worth recommending to everybody.
The summary
The Painted Veil takes a bit long to get where it's going but it is an attractive and well-performed drama nonetheless.
