The Painted Veil (2007)

As an obsessive British bacteriologist in The Painted Veil, Edward Norton combs his hair into a slick helmet, every strand in place. Before making love with his wife (Naomi Watts), he places his slippers neatly by the side of the bed. Much later, as the two rekindle their shattered marriage amid a cholera epidemic in 1920s China, Norton's 'do becomes more relaxed, wind-blown. These are precise details in a handsome throwback that's admirably refined, if too much so. EXTRASNone, and considering the seven years Norton spent shepherding this project, his commentary would have been welcome.