- Based on theic novel by W. Somerset Maugham, "The Painted Veil" is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote villa
OUTSIDER - DVD MovieFrom the director of The Bourne Identity comes this riveting thriller inspired by the experiences of real-life CIA officer Valerie Plame (Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts). When Plame's retired ambassador husband Joe Wilson (played by Academy Award® winner Sean Penn) writes a newspaper article challenging the basis for the U.S. war on Iraq, the White House leaks Plame s undercover status leaving her international contacts vulnerable, her career in shambles and her life in dan! ger. Crackling with sharp dialogue, gripping intrigue and heart-pounding suspense, Fair Game is the adventure that s so unbelievable, it can only be realThe skullduggery surrounding the Valerie Plame affair is already the stuff of an espionage thriller, even if at the time of the making of
Fair Game many details of the incident remained murky. Naomi Watts plays Plame, a longtime CIA agent whose classified status was exposed to the world by columnist Robert Novak in 2003. The move was widely seen as retaliation for the fact that Plame's husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), had just written an op-ed piece contradicting an assertion in President Bush's State of the Union address--an assertion that was part of the Bush administration's drum-beating enthusiasm for the Iraq War. The movie can't answer all the questions about who wanted Plame exposed, but at the least it could create a convincing piece of Beltway intrigue. Instead,
Fair Game steers in the dir! ection of domestic melodrama, as the marriage between Plame an! d Wilson is severely tested by the unwanted notoriety. It's not that the actors are unable to bring this situation to life; Penn is forceful (and he cleverly suggests the vanity of a longtime cocktail-party maven), while Watts, though quite capable, is somewhat frozen by her character's mixed, ambivalent reactions. The main problem is simply that these relationship scenes tip the balance, as though the Plame-Wilson marriage carried greater weight than allegations of weapons of mass destruction and the ramp-up to the Iraq War. Meanwhile, director Doug Liman tries to whip up some spy-movie "energy" with lots of noise and cutting, all of which feels increasingly hollow as the movie goes along. A calmer, cleaner documentary on the same subject might do a superior job someday.
--Robert HortonFrom writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (TV'S
Big Love,
Nine Lives) and executive producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (
Babel) comes the moving story of three women and the po! wer of the unbreakable bond between mother and child. Three women's lives share a common core: the have all been profoundly affected by adoption. Karen (Annette Bening) placed a baby for adoption at age 14 and has been haunted ever since by the daughter she never knew. Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) grew up as an adopted child; she's a bright and ambitious lawyer, but a flinty loner in her personal life. Lucy (Kerry Washington) and her husband are just embarking on the adoption odyssey, hoping for the opportunity to become parents.
Nine Lives director Rodrigo GarcÃa explores the maternal instinct in
Mother and Child through three disparate L.A. women: Karen (Annette Bening), a physical therapist, cares for her ailing mother; Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) works as a high-powered attorney; and Lucy (Kerry Washington), a bakery owner, plans to adopt (only Lucy has a spouse). An opening sequence reveals that Karen, who became pregnant at 14, gave Elizabeth up for adoption. Tho! ugh the daughter has no desire to track down the mother, Karen! has bee n mourning her loss for decades, never working up the nerve to take the next step. All three turn to the same adoption agency (Cherry Jones, who donned a nun's habit for Broadway's
Doubt, plays Sister Joanne). When Karen yields to the advances of a kindly divorcé (Jimmy Smits), and Elizabeth, who's been sleeping with her boss (Samuel L. Jackson) and her married neighbor (Marc Blucas), finds herself with child, their feelings of anger and resentment start to melt. Lucy, meanwhile, has been meeting with a prickly expectant mother (
Half Nelson's Shareeka Epps) who may hold the key to her happiness--assuming that a baby will solve all life's problems. GarcÃa clearly venerates motherhood, but he doesn't let any of his characters off the hook: Karen can be cruel, Elizabeth can be cold, and Lucy can be whiny, but they overcome their lesser natures. There are a few missteps, like a soft-focus montage toward the end, but GarcÃa manages a sprawling cast with finesse, ! and his gifted leads have rarely been better.
--Kathleen C. FennessyBased on the classic novel by W. Somerset Maugham, "The Painted Veil" is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and takes her along. Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth.Produced by Edward Norton and Naomi Watts,
The Painted Veil works well as a movie--even better as an actor's showcase. The year is 1925. When her domineering mother pressures her to marry, Kitty (Watts) settles for shy bacteriologist Walter (Norton). Then Walter is transferred from London to Shanghai! and the lonely and bored Kitty drifts into an affair with mar! ried dip lomat Charlie (Liev Schreiber). When Walter finds out, he makes a startling proposition: either Kitty accompanies him to the cholera-infested countryside or he'll divorce her. With no other prospects, she comes along on what looks like a double-suicide mission. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham,
The Painted Veil was adapted by
Philadelphia's Ron Nyswaner (who knows a little something about infectious diseases). As two previous versions made little impact--despite Garbo's presence in the 1934 melodrama--John Curran's film is sure to stand as definitive. Interestingly, Norton, who studied Chinese history at Yale, chose Watts as his co-star, while Watts chose Curran, for whom she appeared in 2004's underrated
We Don't Live Here Anymore. Filmed on location, the handsome production is, in many respects, just as old-fashioned as its source material--sex is merely suggested and Kitty is shocked that their English neighbor (Toby Jones) has a Chinese love! r--but the ending packs a feminist twist. Mostly though,
The Painted Veil is about the acting, and Watts and Norton, along with Diana Rigg as a disillusioned Mother Superior, have rarely been better.
--Kathleen C. Fennessy
