The Painted Veil

If these are cop outs, this is the last time until fall I’ll be able to do it. So oh well. Here is my finished essay on, The Painted Veil.

Set in the countryside of rural 1920s China, The Painted Veil follows the story of estranged married couple, Kitty and Walter Fane. After uncovering his wife’s infidelity, Walter decides to drag Kitty to a tiny Chinese village at the heart of an ongoing cholera epidemic to exact his revenge. Intending at first only to punish his wife, Walter soon finds himself engrossed in his work as a bacteriologist and the only living doctor in the village. As he struggles to save this decaying community from becoming completely swallowed up in disease, his relationship with Kitty also finds rescue. As together they struggle under the harshest of circumstances they both gradually come to see each other in a different light, and eventually find it in themselves to forgive.

Confusing, at first, is the origin of the title of the film-which on the surface seems to have nothing to do with the story. Although never mentioned explicitly in the movie, the phrase “the painted veil” comes from a sonnet by Percy Shelley. In the first part of the sonnet it reads, “Lift not the painted veil which those who live call life.” Although the reference is subtle, further consideration of its origin reveals one of the most powerful themes in the film. The painted veil spoken of here represents the illusions we sometimes project onto life. A painting is something that is created. Unlike a photograph, which is more bound to reality, a painting is subject entirely to the artist’s personal interpretations and constructions. Likewise, a veil is an article of clothing that is placed over the face and eyes to conceal or obscure. Thus, a painted veil represents the subjective realities or illusions through which we sometimes view the world. A major theme in this movie is moving past these unhealthy illusions, tearing away the metaphorical veil, and seeing people and things for who or what they really are. This theme is effectively depicted through the acting, sound and music, and the structure of the linear narrative in the film.

Brilliantly cast, with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts filling the title roles, the acting in this movie helps to illustrate the overall theme. From the very beginning of the movie Norton (as Walter) and Watts (as Kitty) create a powerful dynamic. The film opens with an oddly silent frame. Kitty and Walter stand stark and still against the lush green Chinese landscape. Kitty, in the foreground, taps her feet idly in the mud and sighs. Walter, in the background, reads a book and seems to be flippantly apathetic to her plight. No words are spoken during this brief scene, but the stony expressions and very visual body language of the actors translates immediately into a palpable tension. Clearly this is a couple that is uncomfortably estranged.

Immediately after this opening sequence the film launches into a series of flashbacks, which crisply unveil the events that have lead to this sad state of affairs.  One scene depicts the posh London party where Walter first encounters Kitty. He notices her across the crowded dance-floor as she steps carefully down a majestic staircase. Immediately his eyes lock on her and he stares fixedly, clearly taken with her stunning beauty and grace. Kitty, on the other hand, moves through the crowded room with a look of boredom and even disgust on her face. She stops frequently to flash her guests strained yet radiant smiles and exchange short social pleasantries with them, but as soon as she turns away her expression is again one of discontent. Watt’s does an excellent job of portraying Kitty as a well-mannered creature of high London society. Her performance is not over-the-top, yet it is in these subtle nuances that the intricacies of Kitty’s character really come out.  Kitty is someone who can assume the proper conduct and tone she needs to at will, but this is only a way of veiling her inner self from others. Thus, from the very beginning Watt’s acting helps to establish a theme of social illusion.

Walter, as well, is a character that behaves based on his biased constructions of the world around him. Edward Norton is able to evoke this complex character very well. A rigidly formal, shy, bookish bacteriologist-Walter is completely taken with Kitty despite the fact that her playful, shallow, light-hearted mannerisms are in direct contrast with his serious stiffness. As Walter, Norton very convincingly produces the image of someone who is fiercely intelligent with noble desires and a systematic mind for science, while still being very socially awkward and rather emotionally unintelligent. He has a hard time seeing and accepting the reality that human beings are endlessly more complex and less predictable than the microbes he studies. Norton depicts these characteristics physically, creating a stiff sort of posture for Walter, and an awkward squeamish stance when interacting with others (fumbling over his words, avoiding eye-contact, etc.).

In the first part of the movie, before he discovers that she is having an affair, Walter seems charmed and even lightly humored by Kitty’s frivolous ways. In one exchange she asks him what exactly it is that he does. He responds, “I’m a bacteriologist.” Kitty, clearly unimpressed, responds with, “sounds fascinating.” Walter looks amused, even endeared with her, “You have no idea what that is, do you?” he asks, before launching into a lengthy explanation of his work.

Walter is rigid and formal with Kitty, even after they are married (knocking before entering the bedroom, carefully slipping off his shoes and shutting the light before going to bed with her)-but he is very clearly devoted to her, always desperately trying to ensure her comfort and well-being. He never seems to take her seriously, however. He never feigns interest at what he considers to be idle chatter, and from the very beginning assumes that she is nothing more than a spoiled lady with an ear for gossip and a penchant for silly games. He still loves her though, and later he will bitterly hate himself for it (“Do you absolutely despise me?”, Kitty asks Walter later on. “No, I despise myself for allowing myself to love you once.”) After Walter discovers the affair, he maintains his image of Kitty as shallow and selfish, only now he does not seem quite so endeared by this. He is disgusted by her, and desires to punish her for her infidelity.

Kitty, obviously, has the same problem in her relationship with Walter. Upon their first introduction she quickly pigeonholes him as a rigid bore-someone who is stiff, emotionless and devoid of any passion. After the discovery of her affair, she also begins to see him as cruel and vengeful because of his punishing ways. As the film progresses, however, both Kitty and Walter are slowly able to overcome their respective illusions of one another. It is in the small village of Mei-Tan-Fu that they, for the first time, must face each other and themselves, stripped of all the veils and masks that so often obscure true character. They are only drawn out of this self-centered perception as they gain an increased empathy for others.

What is at first only an attempt to punish his unfaithful wife turns into a true mission of compassion for Walter. He throws himself into his work, at first, to forget his misery over his failed marriage. This quickly transfers into a genuine effort to save the poor villagers from even further suffering and despair.

As for Kitty, she begins her volunteer work with the French nuns at a local orphanage, only in an effort to alleviate her intense feelings of boredom and desolation. She simply wants to distract herself by keeping occupied. Soon though, she begins to see beyond herself and recognizes for the first time the agony and ugliness of true poverty, suffering and death. It is also here that she becomes aware, for the first time, of her husband’s good reputation. This allows her to see him, not from the perspective of the harsh and critical society from which they came, but through the lens of those he is helping. The things that were once so vexing to her-his lack of social grace, his rigidity and disinterest in the light entertainment she so adored-now seem unimportant next to his noble concern for the villagers.

Both Watts and Norton, enact this shift in perspective fluidly and with great style. They clearly show in their acting the way illusions can be shattered, and how this affects our interactions with one another. When Kitty learns that Walter has a special love for the babies at the orphanage, Watt’s shows us that she is visually stunned. Her mouth is held slightly open, and her eyes look searchingly. She walks home from the orphanage in a daze. Clearly this small comment has chipped away at her unsympathetic judgments of her husband and allows her to see him in a more sympathetic light.

Aside from the acting, the music and sound also does a great job of bolstering the theme. There were a few scenes, specifically, where the sound design played an important part in getting across the proper mood and message. In the first scene, described briefly above, it is the startling silence that so effectively emphasizes the distance between the two characters. This is in contrast to the high and frenzied-sounding piano theme that accompanies the opening credits. This type of silence is used in other scenes to emphasize the weightiness of their circumstances. The couple’s silent meals feel empty and awkward, as only the hollow sound of clanking silverware can be hard atop a low and brooding soundtrack. This highlights the both characters’ inability to compromise or forgive one another for their trespasses.

In another scene after arriving in the village, there is a stark quiet as the two exchange a few words about what it is like to die from cholera (“very painful, but it is relatively quick”). This ominous line is accompanied only by the distant thumping of the”death drums” used by the villagers to ward off evil spirits. These echo from across the river and Kitty turns and looks horrorstruck as she listens to the fearsome clanking and chanting. The reality and the horror of death is dawning on her for the first time, and all at-once the illusion of her comfortable high-society life, free from poverty and pain, begins to deteriorate. The drums only get louder as she lies in a bed surrounded by mosquito netting, eyes wide open, and tears slipping down her cheeks. This only accentuates her fear and the dawning that, for her, this might be a journey of no return.

Earlier in the film a similar sound effect is used to depict Kitty’s despair at her shattered illusion of Charlie (the man she had an affair with). While returning from a failed attempt to get him to divorce his wife and marry her, Kitty rides back to her house on a sedan chair. All kinds of conflict is unfolding behind her, as much of the film takes place against the backdrop of Chinese nationalist hostility. However nothing can be heard but a soft and ominous ringing and a deep drum. All of the street noises are blocked out, and Kitty’s emotional distress at the rejection of her lover is accentuated.

One last scene uses music in a very powerful way, to depict a pivotal moment when the metaphorical veils obscuring both character’s are finally being torn away. In this scene Kitty plays a song on the piano for the orphans. She is unaware that Walter, who happened to be walking by, has paused in the doorway and is watching her. He stands mesmerized, as he watches his wife clank out this soft piano ballad for the children. It is clear that this is the moment in which the deep negativity he has harbored for his wife ever since the affair, begins to slip away. The song itself is a powerful allusion to the past. It is more-or-less the same song that was playing when walter saw Kitty for the first time at the dinner party. Hearing it again, helps him to rediscover past emotions. At the party, this song sounded posh and polished against the backdrop of glitzy wine glasses and evening dresses. Now it sounds rough and clanky, hammered out on the old out-of-tune orphanage piano. The music draws a clear parallel to the day he fell in love, but now he hears the song with new ears. It sounds grittier, more real. The stripped-down, imperfect quality of it probably seems even more enchanting to Mr. Fane than did the polished song of the past. Just as the gritty, real, stripped-down version of Kitty he now sees before him is much more appealing than the classy, polished Kitty of the past. The veil has finally been torn away, and he sees her in a new light.

The last way this movie depicts its theme is through its narrative structure. Although, it is not depicted in a purely linear fashion (it starts somewhere near the middle of the story, and flashbacks are used to fill in vital past information)-the movie certainly grapples with lots of the overarching issues typical of a linear narrative. In The Painted Veil definitely depicts several of the universal human needs and their masquerading wants. Kitty needs to be loved, but in her affair with Charlie she succumbs to mere feelings of passion and lust. Walter, feeling injured by her infidelity, feels the need for justice but instead reacts based on a selfish want for revenge that cankers his soul. This film definitely focused on the battle of the ego. Each character had difficulty submitting their ego (which also can be seen as their individual “painted veils”) and because of this they both suffered much. In the end, however, this story is about redemption. It closes with the final sacrifice of the ego for something better and higher, even when it did not promise personal gain. Finally stricken down by cholera, Walter lies on his deathbed. Kitty sits by his side, tenderly nursing him. “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” he repeatedly pleas. “There is nothing to be forgiven,” Kitty insists. They have finally transcended their selfish views and reached a point where they can find peace in forgiveness.