The Painted Veil
Okay, quick post. Go see this. This film is an adaptation of a Somerset Maugham book.
If you like grown up, slow moving, 'plays'* about adult relationships based on raw and sometimes bitter emotion go see this. It is absolutely beautiful. Set in a very verdant China 1924, is is the story of a marriage, a faux marriage, a marriage of convenience that bloosoms into love despite the trial and tribulations it suffers, it is also a film of surrender and coming of age, of growing up, growing into love and growing as a person.
I loved it, the paramour went along as he is my great love and feels it is his duty to suffer through stuff I know in my heart he'd rather not, but I love him for making the effort.
Tobey Jones is absolutely excellent, Naomi Watts-somewhat surprisingly- won my sympathy and I have always held Edward Norton (I forgive the accent) deep in my heart since he said, ' Put your fuckin' mouth on the curb ' in American History X.
* I say 'play' because the action is slightly stilted and one on one with a lot of unspoken but deeply felt emotion. More like watchng a play than a film, not The Devil's Handmaiden-escue, but play like nonetheless.
Good evening, I bought the jewellery box and now the paramour and I are off to cook a rack of wild boar, scrummy!
Labels: birthday gifts and Saturdays., films
posted by fatmammycat at 4:50 p.m.
10 Comments:
Well you've convinced me!
I have seen the trailer but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to see it or not. But since it is currently on at my favourite cinema around the corner, I will go and see it tomorrow!
I'll let you know what I think :)
Hope you're having a good evening!
(I love wild boar, yum)
I'm having a terrific evening darling, but still no boar. All the veggies are ready but because it's such a huge chunk of meat it's not cooked all the way through yet. We-and I include the cats, country gay and his drooling dog- are all starving!
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the film, I like it a whole lot I must say.
with due respect to edward norton as a fine actor and the mastermind-producer behind this project, this movie is based and adapted from the w somerset maugham's novel of the same name, and in the preface of the first published copy of the book, maugham wrote specifically about its story: "a woman married to a scientist in hong kong falls in love with an attractive philanderer. when her husband discovers the affair he insists on her accompanying him upon a dangerous mission to an area of the colony infested by cholera, and on that harsh pilgrimage of retribution she learns the difference between illusion and reality."
hence this is evidently the story about a woman's self-discovery and growth, and the woman is kitty fane (naomi watts). in the 1934 version, it was greta garbo. this is why naomi watts is the 1st lead of the film, just as garbo was in 1934.
and therefore this film is not about a marriage, nor is it about
doctor fane (norton). in the novel, doctor fane stayed in the background most of the time and died 2/3 into it.
there should be no surprise at all that naomi watts' had delivered another oscar-worthy performance in this film as kitty fane, being praised by more than 30 film critics around the world as the best actress of this generation who, since mulholland drive, has consistently impressed viewers with great performances one after another like 21 grams, ellie parker, king kong, to name just a few. regards
Richard, I love naomi Watts, since Mulhulland Drive in fact, but I meant I had sympathy for Kitty, her character. As a bored spoiled adulterous wife, one would not expect to feel her losses and pain, but she played the part so delightfully I felt her shuttered, sheltered back against the wall pain all the more. I've read the book too and the slant is different( like Bridehead Revisited is so different from the heart of the book). For me the film is about the marriage, it's about want, trust, desire, need, rejection, abjection, tolerance and finally respect and love.
Either way I loved it, and I hope everyone else who watches it enjoys it just as much.
I had heard the movie wasn't true to the book (me being a huge Maugham fan, and all) and so I had not wanted to see it, but now I will, on your recommendation.
"I have always held Edward Norton (I forgive the accent) deep in my heart since he said, ' Put your fuckin' mouth on the curb ' in American History X."
God, that movie was brilliant. I have it on the shelf, and may have to re-watch it now. Ed Norton can really be a genius, as an actor, when he wants to be.
He can indeed, he makes some terrible dross too, but when he pulls out all the stop he can light up a a screen. He has this line in the film when he confronts Kitty and I swear I utterly believed him. I won't say it as I don't want to spoil it if you're going to see the film, but it was spoken with such understated malice and hurt I got goose bumps.
American X was bloody terrific.
I really liked it!!
I had expected it to be rather dull and slow, but it was a beautiful story, well told. I thought the two of them were very good together, you could feel the tension building, it was almost painful. Funnily I've never been a particular fan of any of them before.. Edward Norton puzzles me, I used to think he was one of the most boring actors ever, but then he pulls off stuff like this and I am amazed.
Glad you liked it Eva.
Where the buggery do you get wild boar these days? What was it like?
You get it from a terrific butchers in Ternure, lots or organic meat there. It was a five chop loin which we marinated over knight and then roasted.
It's mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, white meat believe it or not, not gamey at all, but very delicious and tender, like pork but with a much richer flavour, a beefy pork if that makes any sense at all.
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