The Painted Veil

First and foremost thing you need to watch and enjoy a movie is the mood. If you are not in mood for a movie then even the greatest epic of all time will also feel like average. We tend to associate the situation in which we watched a movie to the movie. Also not all movies can be seen at all times. The mood decides what movie will suite that particular moment.

I wanted to watch a movie but didnt know which one to choose. Should I rewatch some movie or should I watch a movie which was still in my "to see" list? Strong debate in my mind. Went through my DVD collection, I had bought The Painted Veil long time back but everytime I just postponed watching the movie for lack of mood.

This time I went ahead and loaded the movie in the DVD player. I didnt know this was by Somerset maugham (or I forgot), not that I knew much about him, but learnt it as the title cards were shown. I am not a big fan of Period movies and I could see the movie was set in early nineties. But as the movie unfolded I was drawn into it and I kept glued to the screen till the end cards were playing. It was after 1 AM when the movie was finally over.

The movie is about two people who get married and find that there are many things that they dont like about each other. The woman tries to find it in another man but realises the other man is after her only for sex. The husband finds that but still he doesnt push her away together they go to a remote village in China where Cholera epidemic is killing people.

The cinematography is spectacular, awesome locales. The locales and the shades gives a gloomy but still bright look. How the man and woman leanr to accept each other and to start loving each other in that remote village forms the rest of the story.

Naomi Watts as the woman sometimes looks old but still shes one of my favorite actress. Edward Norton as her doctor husband is also awesome. The movie has a slow pace and has a bit cliched tragic ending but still its a good ending for the story.