The Non-Hollywood Machine - "The Painted Veil"

My sister rented the film “The Painted Veil” (2006) a few nights ago, and I decided to watch it because Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors. When the credits first started up, I was happy to see that Warner Independent Pictures distributed the film. I got all excited that the film was independent and that I could write about it in the Lived Experience blogs. The film was wonderful. Beautiful cinematography, great story, and an extraordinary cast. When it was over, I told my sister that I was going to write about “The Painted Veil” for this class. I told her what we have been observing so far: Independent films are unlike Hollywood films because they have a limited budget, location, and use of actors. When told this, my sister paused and asked, “ So…how is this independent?” She was right. “The Painted Veil” was anything but independent. The film screamed expensive and powerful.
I knew from the start that “The Painted Veil” had big name actors. The cast list included Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Liev Schreiber. The film is also set in the 1920s, so costume and props were extremely important to the production. I went onto imdb.com to do a little more research on the film. It turns out that the film had a budget of $19,400,0000 and the film was shot in four different locations in China.
I do admit that the story is quite unconventional. “The Painted Veil” is about a troubled marriage that later develops into a relationship of mutual respect and compassion. Its not your typical “boy meets girl” scenario. Its more of a “girl marries boy to get away from family, girl betrays boy by having affair, and then boy forces girl to travel to a cholera-striken China to help the suffering poor.” Its very unique, which is what I think kept me so intrigued. It shows how complex characters can be, and how the audience’s feelings toward the protagonist can move from hatred, to indifference, to sympathy, and finally admiration. The film is also based off a novel written by W. Somerset Maugham. As we have learned in class Hollywood is well known for trying to recreate or reinterpret someone else’s vision. “The Painted Veil” also reinterprets someone else’s work.
Even though the film was a great experience, I can’t help but wonder how this is allowed to be called an independent film. Granted, this class is only up to the early/mid 1990s but I just can’t believe how much independent and mainstream have blended in recent years. “The Painted Veil” was not made by one of the major studios, but it was funded by nine production companies. Actually, according to imdb.com, the production even added on a Chinese production company during production in order to help with the growing finances and expenses. “The Painted Veil” is not part of the “Hollywood Machine,” but it is certainly part of some sort of machine. A machine that involves numerous business transactions, connections, and negotiating. I really do believe that the filmmakers are still artists, but I am also skeptical of the newly created “Non-Hollywood Machine.” Going through this class, I find the screened films empowering to learn about. It is wonderful to think one artist or group of artists can be so influential in the industry. I now wonder what will happen to these artists when the “Non-Hollywood Machine” takes over completely. How can a single camera production even compete with a multi-million dollar budget? How can they compete with a film like “The Painted Veil,” which has an unconventional film premise…and the budget to back it up? What does an artist do when they don’t have the privilege of money or the connection in the business world? I’m seeing the direction that independent cinema is going, and I don’t think I like it. What once seemed optimistic and inspiring now seems intimidating and discouraging.