Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

snowscu While the book is fascinating. The movie is so weird. I am quite disappointed about the start of the movie, which was so abrupt. The scenes about China, so weird and not true at all.

clanciai 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.

mark.waltz I'm talking about the disease, not the woman, but she is dangerous as well. This is the second film version of the Somerset Maugham novel, already made as a classic film with Garbo, and now re-imagined as a film with Naomi Watts. She's presented as a selfish but unhappy woman, marrying disease researcher Edward Norton simply to get away from her harridan of a mother. But loveless marriage to the distant Norton brings her into the arms of the already married Liev Schreiber, resulting in an ugly confrontation with her husband and a possible farewell with her lover. Destiny takes her into the cholera ridden mountains of China where the Scarlet O'Hara like Watts must grow up quickly as she faces not only suffering from the dressed disease but a revolution as well filled with plenty of violence.Stunning photography brings a nearly century old China to life, like many other non-white parts of the world facing a hatred of whites for their seemingly obsessive plans to rule the world and lord over every nationality. Toby Jones is excellent as Norton's right hand man, and Diana Rigg provides wisdom and insight as a missionary nun who defends the Catholic church against the Church of England raised Watts by claiming it is obvious that her faith has taught her to believe pretty much in nothing. The Chinese characters are presented as wise but proud and loyal to old beliefs, with Rigg pointing out to Watts one young girl who adamantly refuses to be baptized, reminding me audience of the rich faiths outside of Christianity which are as godly as what a good majority of the world professes to believe. It took me a while to be emotionally drawn into this film as Watts, for much of the first half, really isn't all that likable, certainly not at all sympathetic. For that matter, neither are Norton or Schreiber. But it's a situation of lost souls needing to be re-found and for total atonement to be brought in to play. The stunning landscapes are further dramatized by a stunning musical score that is never over the top or intrusive. This is a top notch drama that remains epic in size, personal in heart, and strong in spirit. No masterpiece, but not worth missing, either. The ending is one that is a true triumph of the spirit over selfishness and a shining example of what it means to really grow up.

scorpiowriter 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!