The Painted Veil

One of my favorite movie is "The Painted Veil" starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. It is based on a novel of the same title by the author W. Somerset Maugham. It is a period drama set in the 1920s China and England. The movie is about a marriage in distress between Walter and Kitty.



The beautiful music played in the movie is a French children song called "A La Claire Fontaine" translated in English as "At the Clear Fountain". Makes me want to learn it and sing it to my kids in the future, but perhaps i will sing it into English and/or Dutch, hehehe, or in Visayan too, why not. If you like it and want to practice your French then you can sing-a-long, this is a challenge though, more like a tongue twister.

"A La Claire Fontaine"

À la claire fontaine, (At the clear fountain)
M'en allant promener (While I was strolling by)
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle (I found the water so nice)
Que je m'y suis baigné (That I went in to bathe)

Refrain :
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (So long I've been loving you)
Jamais je ne t'oublierai (I will never forget you)

Sous les feuilles d'un chêne, (Under an oak tree,)
Je me suis fait sécher (I dried myself)
Sur la plus haute branche, (On the highest branch,)
Un rossignol chantait (A nightingale was singing)

Refrain

Chante rossignol, chante, (Sing, nightingale, sing,)
Toi qui as le cœur gai (Your heart is so happy)
Tu as le cœur à rire, (Your heart feels like laughing,)
Moi je l'ai à pleurer (Mine feels like weeping.)

Refrain

J'ai perdu mon amie, (I lost my beloved,)
Sans l'avoir mérité (Without deserving it,)
Pour un bouquet de roses, (For a bunch of roses,)
Que je lui refusai (That I denied her.)

Refrain

Je voudrais que la rose, (I wanted the rose)
Fût encore au rosier (To be still on the bush,)
Et que ma douce amie (And my sweet beloved)
Fût encore à m'aimer (To be still loving me)

Refrain