Comment on the song A la Claire Fontaine

In The Painted Veil, at first, Kitty Fane was a selfish and irresponsible woman as she accepted Walters proposal, not for love, but for her reputation as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed, also, she hates her mother that she expects no one would fall in love with Kitty Fane and she would not get married. Kitty Fane regrets until she and her husband experienced a series of incidents in a cholera-affected area as Kitty and Walter has known more about each other, and their mutual respect grows and the anger and bitterness subsides. But unfortunately, when they were both falling in love, Walter was infected with cholera and he therefore passed away. And here is the main reason of choosing A la Claire Fontaine this song. This song is mainly talking about a woman lost her beloved and she is so sorry about what she did to her beloved and hopes that her beloved would still love her as before. Obviously, the meaning of this song is match with Kitty Fanes feeling and experience. The song appears in the end of the film when Walters body was being buried and Kitty was in a steam boat with orphans from Mei-Tan-fu. It is strange that people may dont know why John Curran chooses a French-language song. The song is sung by a woman and a group of children, they represent the nuns who speak France and orphanages in Mei-Tan-Fu. The melody of this song is soft and comfortable, and the atmosphere is quiet and silence. Except expressing the regret of Kitty Fane, the silence of the melody seems to be a blessing and sympathy for Walters death.

Although the voice of children and woman in the song is really appealing, the content of the song is actually not suitable for children as the song is talking about love and regrets. In addition, the song, A la Claire Fontaine, brings up a message of the film, that is, there is a huge wall between Kitty and Walter, and the wall is an estrangement. We need to open the veil, to look through the veil and there are two only ways to uncover the veil. Love, or hate.