Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Merchant and Ivory may be no more but there are plenty of film makers who can live up to their heritage.  It is a watchable and at times deeply authentic movie about the relationship between Kitty and Walter Fane, especially when at a Chinese outpost in the 1920’s fighting cholera.  Based on a Somerset Maugham story, the film is about our expectations of a relationship, trust and the qualities we see in each other.  The fact that the couple who are dealing with the fallout from her adulterous relationship and their own lack of spark are stranded far from anywhere and left to their own devices only heightens the poignancy of their situation.  Despite its lack of punch, ultimate predictability and languid pace, I never felt bored and this was to a great extent due to the leads, Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.  Norton does another of his slightly off-centre characters who masks his shyness with aggression while Watts is up to her usual best showing us the transformation in her young home counties bride to a much more grounded and worldly woman in rural China.  Nice to see Toby Jones in a supporting role and Diana Rigg back on the screen as the Mother Superior.  John Curran directs and Stuart Dryburgh is again in charge of the lush photography.

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