Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, and set against the visually stunning backdrop of China during one of its most dramatic periods of upheaval, The Painted Veil tells a unique love story of an estranged husband and wife who find redemption and unexpected grace in a very unlikely place.  The year is 1925, and Kitty (Naomi Watts), an upper-class young woman bored with her privileged lifestyle and desperate to find a husband, accepts a proposal of marriage from Walter Fane (Edward Norton), a quiet, serious bacteriologist who moves the couple to Shanghai.  While Walter dedicates himself to his work, Kitty embarks on an affair with the English vice-consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When he discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, Walter accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly cholera epidemic, and forces her to accompany him.  Gradually Kitty learns to confront the reality of her surroundings.  Amid the human wreckage of the epidemic, which has given both spouses new purpose, Kitty and Walter discover forgiveness, understanding - and even tenderness.

"Due in large part to effective acting and a well developed screenplay, the movie provides a twofold source of satisfaction. In addition to developing real, believable characters, The Painted Veil provides an extended glimpse of what China was like during the 1920s. The movie achieves a rare balance for an historical fiction: making use of the backdrop without allowing it to overwhelm the characters and their story."  James Berardinelli

"I can't praise too highly the cinematography by New Zealander Stuart Dryburgh, whose interiors, shot in a Beijing studio, are as beautifully lit as the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby."  Philip French

"Faultless, powerful film-making"  The Guardian