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The Painted Veil main poster

The Painted Veil

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7.2/10 • 1.2K

2006-12-092h 5m

RomanceDrama

Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people.

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.

Directors
John Curran
Editors
Alexandre de Franceschi

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Edward Norton

    Edward Norton

    Dr. Walter Fane

  2. Naomi Watts

    Naomi Watts

    Kitty Fane

  3. Liev Schreiber

    Liev Schreiber

    Charlie Townsend

  4. Toby Jones

    Toby Jones

    Mr. Waddington

  5. Diana Rigg

    Diana Rigg

    Mother Superior

  6. Anthony Wong

    Anthony Wong

    Colonel Yu

  7. Yu Xia

    Yu Xia

    Wu Lien

  8. Juliet Howland

    Juliet Howland

    Dorothy Townsend

  9. Ian Renwick

    Ian Renwick

    Geoffrey Denison

Reviews2

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Peter McGinn Avatar

Peter McGinn

Jan 9, 2021

8/10

This movie seemed vaguely familiar to my wife like we had seen it before, but it all seemed new to me when we recently watched it. We both enjoyed it. I wasn’t concerned when a few reviews remarked that it moved slowly, as we have always appreciated movies that build a quiet story carefully, and mostly this one did that. My only criticism is that at the outset of the movie, I didn’t quite believe that Walter was in love with Kitty. He said he was, but I wonder if a scene or two showing him falling for her ended up on the cutting room floor. He merely seemed to stalk her around the party and want to marry her before he left for China. Similarly, Kitty falling for Charlie didn’t seem well constructed. It felt like one scene they stared at each other, flirted a bit, and the next scene they are in bed. But once I suspended that bit of disbelief, the film was great. Gradually Kitty develops as a character, and her marriage begins to be rebuilt from the rubble of her earlier actions. The final scene, a few years after the action in the bulk of the movie, brings the story full circle in a satisfying manner. All around a fine movie well worth watching patiently.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$19,400,000.00
Revenue
$26,910,847.00
Keywords
infidelitychinabased on novel or bookshanghai, chinanuncholeraforeign aiddoctorepidemicconvent (nunnery)loveless marriage1920sbacteriologist