One of My Favorite Books: The Painted Veil

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Although often is considered to be a romantic movie, this work of art is more or less a movie about love, a movie about survival a movie which teaches you to have patience with people and a movie which teaches you how to understand and trust people.

The screenplay is based on a novel written by W. Somerset Maugham and published in 1925. From the very beginning of the plot the characters were situated in two different worlds. Kitty Fane, who is the beautiful, but shallow young girl, is forced by her family (because the lack of money) to marry Walter Fane, a great and socially awkward bacteriologist. But she doesn’t love him, maybe because of her young age, maybe because she didn’t feel the feeling yet.

During the first two months of their marriage, Kitty has an affair with a married businessman, who promised to leave his wife for her. Walter was very suspicious all this time and when finally discovered Kitty’s affair he didn’t agree to divorce her, but to show her that the rich business man won’t leave his wife for her sake. And it was so true…

We can say that as a possible revenge, Walter took Kitty on a long trip to China, Hong-Kong. He accepted there a job: to try to heal people who suffered from cholera and to try to find a cure for that fatal disease.

While Walter was busy with treating sick patients, Kitty refused to accomplish the responsibilities of a decent wife, searching always something to do, although most of the time she was boring.

Her future voluntary work at a monastery where she thought the poor and orphan children, has changed her a lot. Her relation with Walter sooner became much more tight, but it was too late for them. Walter was infected with cholera while treating a patient, and soon after he died. Surprisingly or not, Kitty stayed with him all this time…

Returning to her motherland, England, Kitty regrets her husband’s unfortunate death, but in the same time she was preparing for a new life to shine, her unborn child…Even it was too late for her to marry, she has learned humility, she has learned how to become an independent woman and how to love a person.

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