The Painted Veil
on Blog From Beyond (Rwanda), 23/Dec/2009 20:16, 34 days ago
Question: Which movie, other thanPirates of the Caribbean,did Johnny Depp (Captain Jack), Tom Hollander (Cutler Beckett) and Jack Davenport (Norrington) appear in together? And which was the first film in which Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann) and Tom Hollander acted together?Answers at the bottom of the post :)For two years I waited. Two long years, taunted by the trailers on movies sent out to Central Africa. I would wait, breathless, for the next instalment from kind friends and family who took pity on my lack of television and cinema access. I would run to the post office, dodging between the barricades of dodgy change dealers, and tear at the layers of duct tape on parcels, laughing manically as it stuck to my hair....I desperately wanted to seeThe Painted Veilsince being overseas. It'd been out a good seven months before I left but I only really noticed it when the trailers kept appearing on the films I was watching.I scribbled a little list of films to buy and borrow when I got back to the UK. It began withSweeney Toddfor a fiver in the local shop and continues to grow as I discover new things I didn't even know had been made in my absence.The other day I was really excited when that familiar old Amazon logo dropped it right on my door. I watched it last night whilst guzzling the last of a bottle ofTribe...a veeeery strange drink. Extremely sweet, but sort of okay after the second or third glass...whatever the myths surrounding royal jelly, I have to admit to waking up for work this morning feeling absolutely pucker :)Anyway - you're not paying any attention to this, I can tell - you're still trying to think which films thePirates of the Caribbeancast were in ;o/Sadly, the Veil was not worth the wait. I desperately wanted it to be sublime. Instead, it was just average.Despite strong plot similarities - namely the lead male dying an excruciating death - it was mercifully nowhere near as bad asThe Sheltering Sky(which ranks as my all time rather-pull-teeth-than-watch-again movie. They always give it away free with newspapers because no one would actually pay to own it).No...it wasn't great. And for that I am sorry, because it could have been. And I think it's cemented, along withThe Illusionist, Edward Norton's I'm-going-to-pretend-to-hate-you-then-take-you-to-bed-in-a-very-determined-fashion trademark role.However, I have taken one thing away from it. I rather liked the song at the end,La Claire Fontaine:I was somewhat slightly smitten when I went off to see what the lyrics were about. According toYahoo Answersit was a Quebec folk song which she switches between French and Chinese. In French the lyrics are:La claire fontaine, m'en allant promener,J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baigné.*Il y a lontemps que je t'aime, jamais je ne t'oublierai.*Sous les feuilles d'un chêne, je me suis fait sécher.Sur la plus haute branche, un rossignol chantait.Chante, rossignol, chante, toi qui as le coeur gai;Tu as le coeurà rire, moi je l'ai à pleurer.J'ai perdu mon ami sans l'avoir mérité.Pour un bouquet de roses que je lui refusai.Je voudrais que la rose fût encore au rosier,Et que mon douce ami fût encore à m'aimerWhich apparently roughly translates as:By the clear running fountainI strayed one summer day.The water looked so coolingI bathed without delay.*Refrain [sung in French]:Many long years have I loved you,Ever in my heart you'll stay.*Beneath an oak tree shadyI dried myself that dayWhen from the topmost branchA bird's song came my way.Sing, nightingale, keep singing,Your heart is always gay.You have no cares to grieve you,While I could weep today.You have no cares to grieve you,While I could weep today,For I have lost my loved oneIn such a senseless way.She wanted some red rosesBut I did rudely sayShe could not have the rosesThat I had picked that day.Now I wish those red rosesWere on their bush today,While I and my belovedStill went our old sweet way.Isn't that pretty :)And oh so very apt for the film itself.Hmmm.Well, in my last post I said that drastic measures were required - so I'm breaking out of here. I am planning another road trip...watch this space. I should be heading off Boxing Day and back to update in the new year.Have a cool Yule and much festive-ness one and all. *mwa, mwa*Oh, and the answer to the questions:The LibertineandPride& Prejudice, in that order. Rosamund Pike also appeared in both (Rochester's Wife& Jane Bennett).