Alexandra Leaving

Thank you so much to koalathebear who kindly send me the DVD, I watched “The Painted Veil” yesterday. It is an amazing, enchanting and exquisite film. I loved it on all possible levels – emotional, aesthetic and intellectual. It is definitely the film that affected me the most over the last twelve month. And yes, koalathebear, I cried, though for many different reasons. :D

The main love story is wonderful, but film is not just only about this, it is about the ways of building love and understanding between two people, two nations, two religions and two cultures. I am trying my best not to give a spoiler for the ending, but it is enough to say that the ending is full of hope and the new life.



Story: it is one of the simplest and most elegant stories, and one of the most original ideas. Doctor Walter Fane, an English epidemiologist in Shanghai, forces his young unfaithful wife Kitty into travelling with him to a cholera-stricken remote village in China.

It has been a while since I read W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Painted Veil” and I can’t really judge how accurate this adaptation is. The only thing I found distinctly different from the book is that I remember how it took me a while to warm up to the book’s Walter, but I fell in love with Edwards Norton’s Walter immediately.

Actors: I have always liked and followed Edwards Norton’s roles since "Fight Club" in 1999 (this film is so incredible), but he seemed to follow the path of the other Hollywood actors with unusual features. He had some interesting roles and some less interesting ones, but more of the less interesting ones. So I am filled with inner joy that now he did the role of Walter Fane, fitting him to a tee, the role he has made so personal and beautiful!!!!!!! And I loved Naomi Watts as Kitty, and even more – I loved them together!!!

Cinematography is absolutely stunning. It is made as a dream, as if mysterious soul of out-worldly Chinese landscapes filled every screenshot and every sound.

PS because I could not sleep and kept thinking about this film the whole night long my head feels quite “stuffed” and I feel I didn’t give all justice to this film!

( Couple of the Screencaps, my favourite scenes. Spoilers. )