The 1925 Somerset Maugham novel on which this film is based has
inspired two previous adaptations, notably the 1934 version with Greta
Garbo in the lead role. This version is
intended as an old-fashioned
sprawling saga and to say that it achieves that aim is meant both as
compliment and criticism.
In visual terms - the cinematography,
the impeccable yet unshowy production and costume design, the stunning
rural China locations - it's a knockout, but as a psychological
thriller, which is in essence what Maugham was writing, it feels
underwritten and undercooked.
It's the story of Kitty (Watts), a
marriageable upper-class English girl who, largely to spite her
parents, accepts a sudden stuttering proposal of marriage from Walter
Fane (Norton), a China-based bacteriologist. Bored and isolated in Shanghai, she embarks on an affair with Charlie Townsend (Schreiber). Walter retaliates by taking her with him to a remote village in the grip of a cholera outbreak and the experience transforms them both.
The early events are narrated
with an economy that verges on the headlong: we don't watch Kitty being
self-centred, or realising that her marriage is loveless, or conceiving
a passion for Charlie; these matters are taken as read. Character is
revealed rather than developed.
Norton, an American, and
Australian Watts are so busy struggling with their accents that they
never really find their characters' hearts. But it's a solid piece of
period escapism.
Peter Calder
Cast
: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Toby Young, Diana Rigg
Director
: John Curran
Running time
: 125 mins
Rating
: M (sexual references)
Screening
: Bridgeway, Lido, Rialto
