The White Countess

Synopsis: In 1930s Shanghai, Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), a recently blinded former American diplomat, employs exiled Russian countess, Sofia Belinskya (Natasha Richardson), as a hostess in his new nightclub.

The words “A Merchant Ivory Production” have taken on a life of their own since producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory made their professional and romantic partnership in 1961. Originally founded to make English-language films in India aimed at the international market, Merchant Ivory Productions is best known, perhaps unfairly so, for ‘period costume dramas’. It’s certainly a mini-genre in its own right with classics such as The Remains of the Day (1993), Howards End (1992) and Room with a View (1986) to name but a few of its members. The White Countess will be the last true Merchant Ivory production, following Merchant’s death last year.

The film portrays an interesting slice of history and an intimate portrait of an unusual relationship. Beginning in 1930s Shanghai, the camera tracks through an incongruous community of exiled Russians, cast out of their aristocratic pasts by the revolution, and eking out a living. Sofia Belinskya first appears as the refugee struggling to support her daughter and her dead husband’s family through hostessing in some of Shanghai’s seedier bars. Most of her in-laws, while welcoming the income, despise her for her ignoble work. Natasha Richardson certainly brings the right amount of tragic aristocracy, and a reasonable Russian accent, to the part. Her aunt and mother also appear in the film in somewhat underdone roles.

Meanwhile, Todd Jackson is drowning his sorrows in some of the same bars. Chance meetings with Sofia, and the mysterious and sometimes ominous Japanese businessman, Mr Matsuda, inspire Todd to open the nightclub of his dreams which he names The White Countess and where he employs Sofia. While they come to depend on each other, Todd is a man with a past that the film slowly takes its time to unveil. Ralph Fiennes has had limited opportunities to play characters other than the romantically reticent, but here his take on the usual seductive standoffishness is refreshingly different.

The screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro is also slowly measured. While Ishiguro wrote the novel Remains of the Day, it was Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (long time Merchant Ivory screenplay writer) who adapted it for the screen. Ishiguru’s screenplay for White Countess does have a similar tone, but is rather minimalist. The same could be said for the cinematography. With patience, the broad brush strokes of the story are satisfying and moving, but some might find the detail lacking.

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