Based on William Somerset Maugham’s novel The Painted Veil, The Awakening of a Passion was recorded twice before the 2006 release. In 1934 it was a showcase for Greta Garbo, while Eleanor Parker starred in the 2006 release. 1957. La third film adaptation was the occasion for Naomi Watts to play Kitty Garstin, Maugham’s imperfect heroine.
Cultural shock and unrealistic expectations are the cornerstones of The Awakening of a Passion, a fascinating story in which infidelity and guilt form a raft on a powerful emotional journey. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts produced and starred in this film version of Maugham’s novel.
- When newlyweds leave England to embrace a new life in Shanghai.
- Their journey goes beyond a distance.
- Hidden passions are revealed as life takes an unexpected turn; what initially seems like an act of revenge becomes the creation of the central characters.
The novel Oda ao Vento Oeste begins with a quote that would give rise to the name of the film, is a sonnet of the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), husband of the famous Mary Shelley (creator of Frankenstein), who wrote a poem that begins with the following words:?Don’t take off the painted veil that those who live call Life?
The veil is a symbol of the separation between life and death in various cultures, Shelley warns us not to lift the veil because there is nothing there, it also means that each person models his life (the veil) according to his own beliefs (his empty colors). For Shelley, humans are painted veils under which we hide our true self.
That’s what it’s all about, The Painted Veil, or The Awakening of a Passion, a set of masks, not being what we seem to be or being a pale image of who we are, falling in love with an ideal and, only when you lift the veil, do you realize that you are painfully disappointed with this game. It is wonderful to make the connection between kitty’s poem and the frivolous and early life and her journey into a more authentic life.
Kitty Garstin turned down several suitors thinking someone better was coming and her mother (Maggie Steed) is increasingly concerned about their prospects.
Kitty gets a marriage proposal from a man she just met. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a young London-based physician, graduating from his job as a bacteriologist at a civilian laboratory in Shanghai.
He marvels at Kitty (Naomi Watts). However, for her, she simply solves her problem of getting married quickly. When they move to Shanghai, Kitty falls in love with English Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber), and they have an affair.
The consul plays with her and has no intention of formalizing their relationship. When Walter discovers his infidelity, in an act of revenge, he takes her to a remote village in cholera-ravaged China, apparently to provide him with medical assistance.
The awakening of a passion is a story of maturity and forgiveness. Walter and Kitty share responsibility for the deastrous state of their marriage, but with the forces that destroyed it, they learn to reconnect. Kitty grew up working with orphans in a local convent.
Walter arrives in the city with the best intentions, but his methods are considered unacceptable when he violates the religious beliefs of the natives, only progressing after learning to work with people who apparently do not oppose his work.
Kitty begins to see her courage and sees it from a different perspective. For the first time, she’s interested in her husband.
Arriving in the remote village of Mei-tan-fu, Kitty does not know if nationalists, boredom or anger will kill her first. There is no quick solution to Kitty and Walter’s relationship, they are absorbed by the reality of life in hell. have as their new home. It’s the circumstances of your plight that take you first to a dead end, before an intimate understanding.
The love and realization of romantic love is never easy, Kitty sees Walter’s virtues: her dedication to patients, her kindness, her morality, discovers the error of her habits and finally falls in love with him.
Kitty’s journey to personal growth, almost reaching adulthood, is truly believable because of the mistakes she makes along the way. No one can say kitty has achieved perfection. Despite complete maturation, learn after each failure. He’s getting stronger, wiser.
Kitty was never forced to think of anyone but herself. Now, first familiar with real suffering, everything your husband does finally makes sense. It’s a revelation to Walter de Norton, who belatedly discovers that it’s worth meeting his wife, after all. .
In this newly created intimacy, passion is born and Kitty and Walter make love as husband and wife for the first time in their marriage.
Kitty becomes pregnant and, not knowing who the child belongs to, talks about it with Walter, who, sorry to have judged her wife so harshly, assures her that this child will be hers without further questions or guilt.
You could see The Awakening of a Passion as an atypical love story. They are married people who should never have come together to finally find common ground. Kitty was looking for an emotion outside of marriage, when she actually only found vulgarity and disappointment.
Not having appreciated the husband now becomes an misfortune to overcome, because time does not play in your favor. Bad wisdom and passion came with anger. In the desperation caused by the battle against the disease, the two manage to find in each other what they never imagined they had done.