The Painted Veil, based on W Somerset Maugham's much-adapted book of the same name, is a gripping and intelligent melodrama with a powerhouse cast.

When London socialite Kitty (Watts) impulsively agrees to marry unassuming bacteriologist Walter Fane (Norton), she meets the expectations of her upper-class 1920s social circle and the family to whom she has become a burden. The opportunity to relocate to colonial Shanghai, where Walter works, offers a welcome escape from the scorn of her once devoted mother and the embarrassment of the impending marriage of her younger and less attractive sister. Yet Kitty is soon set on a journey of disillusionment and discovery that will challenge all that she has known.

The central dynamic between Norton as wronged husband Walter and Watts as the flawed but commanding Kitty is played out with a note-perfect subtlety to the film's moving close. And Toby Jones (Infamous), Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and the brilliant Diana Rigg provide quality support. A sole cause for regret is that Watts (who also produced) is denied the opportunity to pursue her character further along the lines of Maugham's bleak vision. Director John Curran (We Don't Live Here Anymore) and screenwriter Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), perhaps in deference to audience expectations, soften the harsh conclusion of the original story in favour of a more romantic (and presumably commercial) interpretation.

With breathtaking photography by Stuart Dryburgh (An Angel at My Table, The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady), and a powerful, Golden Globe-winning score from Alexandre Desplat (The Beat that My Heart Skipped), the film nonetheless has a powerful impact and Norton says it has provoked a very emotional reaction from audiences. He believes this comes from both the romance of place and subject: "I tend to find something more meaningful in films that are a study of the eternal dynamics between men and women� I think Out of Africa holds up as a romantic film is because it's really a film about loss, not about romantic consummation. It's about a woman confronting the fact that she can't hold on to things� There's something in it that a lot of people can recognise themselves in� That I respond to � I don't tend to respond so much to the people who meet through a wedding planner or whose dogs get their leashes tangled together� Those things haven't happened to me, yet."

In addition to altering Kitty's story, Curran and Norton (a producer and driving force behind the project) also strove to flesh out the political and cultural climate of 1920s China � from the artificial colonial society to the rural context in which much of the story unfolds. Curran says they wanted to infuse the film with authenticity � to make China, in Norton's words, "more than a backdrop for a little love story between two Westerners". The Painted Veil is also a relatively rare Chinese co-production, and there was a desire to represent the rich historical context of the story with elements of the Chinese perspective � popular Chinese actor Anthony Wong, for example, was brought onboard in the role of Colonel Yu, a character much expanded from the book. The result of the filmmakers' efforts to make China a "fully realised character" (Norton) is a film of depth and texture that reaches beyond the claustrophobic melodrama of Maugham's concise prose.

Yet the production was at times thwarted by the political imperatives of filming in China, as Curran explains: "We made the film we wanted to make but it was bloody, it was very difficult. For the co-production company to be satisfied we had to submit the script to the China Film Bureau and give them approval over the edits. I'm not going say it was easy. It's no secret that the Chinese are very restrictive about what you can and cannot say in the media there." However, Norton adds: "The Chinese crews were incredible� and we had nothing but great things to say about our Chinese colleagues in making the film." And the difficulties, says the actor, were "far outweighed by the opportunity of getting down into that landscape and filming where no Chinese films had even been made� It was a unique opportunity and absolutely worth it." As Curran says : "Every film has battles � you win some and you lose some. The result of that fight is what goes up on the screen."