When a movie is based (faithfully) on a novel by the great W. Somerset Maugham, it's predestined to have an intriguing story, interesting characters and strong dialogue. The direction need not be remarkable, and nor need the acting. But both are good right throughout The Painted Veil, and the net result is immensely enjoyable.

This plush international co-production is set in 1925. The central protagonists are Kitty (Naomi Watts) and Walter (Edward Norton). She's a vivacious upper-class London socialite; he's a rather earnest and awkward bacteriologist. They're an unlikely combination, but combine they do - for dubious reasons - with marriage and a move to Shanghai following in short order. This being the 1920s, China is alive with turmoil, anger and nationalist political activity. The plot rapidly thickens on a more narrow personal level, as Kitty embarks on an affair with Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber), the suave English vice-consul. Before long, Walter has accepted a job in a remote village that's been stricken by a cholera epidemic.

There's a great deal of tension in The Painted Veil, some overtly expressed and some simmering in classic buttoned-down English style. Plus there's the small matter of people dropping like flies from cholera. Medical and emotional tragedy almost seem to vie for supremacy. The film often looks sumptuous; it's a well-balanced mix of the decorous and the grim and grisly. It's suspenseful and exciting, and the recurrent moral and emotional themes are the stuff that intelligent arguments are made of. The characters are intermittently maddening, and sometimes dislikeable, but they're always completely believable. This is a richly involving love story - but, most of all, it's a rattling good yarn.