Painted Veil, The

Edward Norton puts in another of his characteristically persuasive performances, undergoing three complete and convincing personality changes in the story, proving once again that he is among the handful of finest actors in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Watts demonstrates she can do more than play second-fiddle to an ape or a tape recording by exhibiting two distinct personality changes herself. These are flesh-and-blood people with real longings and genuine passions. We care about them.

"The Painted Veil" moves slowly, lyrically, luxuriantly along, and it rewards one's patience not only with moving performances from its stars, Watts and Norton, but with equally refined performances from Schreiber as the unprincipled Charlie, Toby Jones as a sympathetic Deputy Commissioner, and Diana Rigg as an understanding Mother Superior. The scenery is gorgeous, the music quiet but effective, the themes universal. "The Painted Veil" is a finely crafted product that can hardly fail to touch one's heart.

Video:
If ever a movie cried out for a high-definition transfer, it's this one, and I hope there is such a product in the offing. I mean, for Warner Bros. to release "Beerfest" in HD and then not to do the same for "The Painted Veil" might be grounds for criminal negligence.

In the meantime, the standard-definition transfer we do have is quite good. It displays the movie's original 2.40:1 aspect ratio in dimensions that measure about 2.20:1 across my screen, given a bit of overscanning and all. A high bit rate and a widescreen enhanced for 16x9 televisions also help to reproduce deep, richly intense colors and moderately sharp object delineation. The hues intentionally fluctuate from soft, almost pastel, to bright and glowing, depending on the situation and mood of the scene. The detail in close-ups is excellent, although medium shots sometimes suffer from being a tad fuzzy. Then, too, the picture gets a little darker than nature might have intended, but most of the time the disc presents things pretty well.

Audio:
The film's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack nicely opens up the background music with a realistic ambient bloom in the surrounds. There is a welcome high-end sheen, a smooth midrange response, a fine dynamic clout, and a surprisingly powerful bass that heightens the film's dramatic impact. While we would not expect any big action-movie noises from the rear channels, we do get some minor goings on like the sounds of horses' hooves and crowds of people.

Extras:
Oddly, WB chose not to include much in the way of extras on the disc. Perhaps because the film did not fare well theatrically, they did not want to spend any more money on the DVD than necessary. Or perhaps they are planning an elaborate HD-DVD special edition with a picture-in-picture "In-Movie Experience," a director's cut, and a ton of behind-the-scenes documentaries. I don't know. In any case, it's the movie that matters, and the movie is well worth the price of the disc. What we do get is a widescreen trailer; thirty scene selections, but no chapter insert; English as the only spoken language; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
"The Painted Veil" is a grand love story, perhaps lacking in the ultimate sweep of a "Gone With the Wind" or "Doctor Zhivago" but conveying the same sort of emotional range. It's a simple story about that most complex subject on Earth, human relationships, and it says more in its two hours than most novels express in a thousand pages. It's a lovely, sad, lonely, dispiriting, yet strangely uplifting motion picture.

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