Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are very good, no question of that, but a film that aspires to transport us into the past in a far distant land for a story of torturous love and redemption needs to fix the basics to take the audience along for the ride. Norton and Watts, good as they are, have not a sexual chemistry to write home about. His broken heart doesn't compel us because translated into images, Edward Norton's character emerges as a petulant bore of a child. An unrecognizable Diana Rigg, as the Mother Superior, tells Watts that her husband loves children. If Mother Diana hadn't told her, I wouldn't have known. That's what I mean. There is no genuine kindness in him, not even when he's kind. Naomi Watts's Kitty is a society girl of her day, isn't she suppose to be? Yes. But she stands up from her chair to shake hands with Toby Jones, the move was so out of period and class that it distracted me, I kept thinking that it meant something that sooner or later was going to be revealed. The character's transgression was serious but not unheard of in its day. Standing up to shake hands with a man was. I like Watts and Norton enormously but not here. Exotic locations and a delicious Alexander Desplats score provide a much welcome help to the proceedings.
Review of The Painted Veil
