The Painted Veil
Stream HERE!
Our next Rialto Recommends is 2006's beautiful film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel THE PAINTED VEIL adapted by Philadelphia screenwriter Ron Nyswaner and directed by John Curran. Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Liev Schreiber star. Caught in an affair with another man (Liev Schreiber), a scientist's callow wife (Naomi Watts) accompanies her husband (Edward Norton) to mainland China in the 1920s to fight a cholera epidemic. There, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads to an unexpected chance at redemption. Visually, The Painted Veil has all the trappings of a stuffy period drama, but Norton's and Watts's deft portrayals of imperfect, complicated characters give the film a modern-day spark. The Seattle Times said "A thoughtful and beautifully mounted story for grown-ups, The Painted Veil brings the quiet pleasures of a fine novel, showing us that the world's complicated geography is no match for the terrain of the human heart." While Entertainment Weekly said "The always surprising Watts creates a woman at once contemporary and retro. And Norton, as a producer as well as star, concedes enough space for Schreiber and the effortlessly fascinating Toby Jones to earn their own spotlights." THE PAINTED VEIL is streaming on TCMWatch or available to rent for a modest fee from Amazon, RedBox, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, and DirectTV HERE.
