MovieTime

Review

by Julie Rigg

Somerset Maugham's novel of adultery, guilt and redemption was first adapted for cinema in 1934, with Greta Garbo as Kitty, the lonely wife ignored by her research biologist husband in the British colony of 30s Shanghai. Edward Norton, who plays the husband in this second adaptation, also produced this film. Naomi Watts plays Kitty, who finds herself working alongside him in a cholera epidemic in rural China; Liev Schreiber plays her lover.

All performers take this story very seriously, but I couldn't. It's beautifully shot, and in the second half becomes less predictable, but somehow Maugham's old fashioned melodrama of gin, cigarettes and adultery no longer seems relevant. They told stories differently then. Maybe these days we are just different people.

Director: John Curran
Cast: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones
Producer: Sara Colleton, Jean-Francois Fonlupt, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Bob Yari
Script: Ron Nyswaner, W. Somerset Maugham (author)
Cinematographer: Stuart Dryburgh
Editor: Alexandre de Franceschi
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Running time: 123
Australian distributor: Paramount/Transmission
Language: Chinese - Mandarin
Classification: M