Painted Veil

Painted Veil is a nice movie I recently saw. Tyler Durden and KingKong girl both gave excellent performance. Most importantly, the movie was shot in southern China and most scenes were incredibly beautiful with mountains and rivers. I did some background checking and found that the title was from a poem by Shelly. Don't we all have painted veils?

Here goes the poem:

Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread:--behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin destinies; who ever weave
The shadows, which the world call substance, there.

I knew one who lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
through the unheeding many did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sonnet IV in Posthumous Poems