The film “Painted Veil” was directed by John Curran based on the classic work of the famous English writer Somerset Maugham “Patterned Veil” (1925), which was later reprinted in Russia under the same name as the film released in 2006. The main roles in the film were played by Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. The film “Painted Veil” was first shot in 1934. In this film adaptation of the novel, the role of the main character Kitty Fane was played by the magnificent Greta Garbo.
The plot of the painting "Painted Veil" takes place in the 20s of the 20th century. A young spoiled aristocrat Kitty, who dreams of quickly getting rid of her mother’s excessive custody, meets one of the young scholars Walter Fane at an evening organized by her father, a well-known lawyer. A doctor who has fallen in love with a girl at first sight and who has received consent to marriage takes her spouse to Shanghai, where she immerses herself in work. Kitty, who has never experienced tender feelings for her husband, has an affair on the side with Charlie Townsend. However, the fact of treason is soon revealed. Disappointed in marriage, Walter decides to go deep into China, to a small village where cholera is rampant. Kitty, hoping that her lover will divorce for the sake of their love with his wife, is refused and forced to leave with her husband.
Arriving in a practically abandoned settlement, whose inhabitants die one after another from a terrible disease, the doctor devotes all his time to the fight against the disease, while his wife, abandoned by her beloved and disappointed in life, misses four walls. However, gradually a patterned cover, a painted veil of dreams flies from Kitty’s eyes, love affairs and disappointments fade into the background when she sees with what devotion her business helps sick people. Unexpectedly for herself, she opens it completely from an unfamiliar side. This is not that bore, completely surrendering to the laboratory, experiments and treatment, this is a man respected by the widest soul, risking his life for the sake of saving others. Once, going for a walk, Kitty discovers a shelter in which the nuns work and in which the children look forward to the arrival of her husband, who is able to support everyone with a kind word and deed, surrounding them with warmth and care. Between the spouses a feeling full of mutual respect and love flares up again. At the end of the film “Painted Veil”, Kitty, already an adult, who became a widow after her husband died of cholera, meets Charlie on the street. To the question of the son, whose exact biological paternity remains unknown: “Who is this?” -answers: "Nobody."
The film features wonderful music by A. Despla, emphasizing the entire course of events. “Painted Veil”, the trailer of the picture of which includes the most vivid fragments that unfold against the backdrop of a magnificent melody, sets the audience in a certain mood, the slow flow of the narrative, which is far from boring. After watching it, you will certainly have a desire to watch the whole movie.