Just so...so bad

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

So far I've not been able to watch more than the first few scenes. Not owing to any gruesome horror, but because I feel I've seen this film many times before. I stopped at the scene in the Chinese theatre. When Liev Schreiber's character tells Watts about the theatrical plot, he is so obviously telling her what she feels about her mistaken marriage, it is the writer and director choosing to verbalise rather than let the characters show through their actions and emotions. Too clumsy and obvious to generate real feelings in me at least.

To watch this film after having seen the Greta Garbo version of 1934 is a challenge indeed. They are both excellent but at the same time each other's contraries. This version is truer to Somerset Maugham, while the Garbo version is so much more efficient and dramatic. Naomi Watts and Edward Norton are bleak and almost insipid in their performances in comparison with the passions of Garbo, Herbert Marshall and George Brent. The 1934 film is also much more interesting in its rendering of the Chinese reality of those days. Compare for instance the couple's visit to the Chinese opera. In 1934 it's a phantasmagoria of festivities, while here it's just one actress miaowing.On the other hand, this version is so much more beautiful. The Chinese landscape is intoxicating in its beauty, and Alexander Desplat's music, always enchanting, casts a soft spell of sweetness over the film in a sad mood of inevitability. Edward Norton's role is a difficult one, it is never sympathetic, and Naomi Watts does not cut a very sympathetic figure either, while Greta Garbo still shines the more after 80 years. The tempo is slow, you are bound to yawn at times and maybe even fall asleep to the soft dullness, while the 1934 film keeps you wide awake all through indeed. On the other hand, this film does not abandon Somerset Maugham but walks the line all the way.

Watched this last night on Netflix. At first, was annoyed by Naomi Watt's heavy Australian accent bleeding through her British character's, along with Ed Norton's very weak accent.Once they went to China, everything changed. The scenery (filmed in Guilin, Guangxiprovince) is MAGNIFICENT. Interesting to watch the characters go fromloathing one another to a sort of reunion. Definitely worth a watch.Love the scenery, costumes, music, and melancholy lighting. Would haveliked to see more of Waddington.Jeez, I have to add more lines to my review. Most people have the attention span of a goldfish, IMDb! What else is there to say...wish I saw more from the Chinese character's points of view, so they weren't just stereotypes , i.e. Chinese Peasant #1. Would have liked to known more about the experiences of the French nuns--what gives them pleasure? How about seeing the local foods? There was a humorous scene where Dr. Fane meets up with a Chinese warlord--reminded me of the Supreme Leader of North Korea. Good movie, definitely if you can get though the dreary English scenes--where I wish more character development had occurred--you will love it. And Lieve Schreiber makes an excellent DOUCHEBAG character!

One of the most consistently great and super watchable screen actresses of the moment is Naomi Watts, never having seen her in a bad film (yes, I've purposely avoided watching Diana). this film is rather elegant all around, and thankfully, it actually doesn't feel as stuffy as so many period pieces do. It is, however, sort of lacking in a really strong and interesting thematic conflict and characters. Norton does great work along with Watts, but it's all a bit, I don't know, superfluous. That's not necessarily a horrible criticism, but it does prevent it from true greatness. I enjoyed it though, and while I don't think it's a great film, it's an easily watchable and accessible one, sure to be loved by those who do love these sort of things.