The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and takes her along. Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth.

Nicole Kidman was considered for the leading role.

Kitty Fane:
[Talking to her mother about marrying Walter] Please, Mother. The idea that any women should marry any Tom, Dick or Harry regardless of her own feelings is simply prehistoric.

Continuity: In the scene where Walter is telling Kitty he wants to divorce her, Kitty's necklace (with Charlie Townsend's ring) disappears and reappears between shots.

Written by Erik Satie
Licensed by BMG Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd