The White Countess is set in late 1930s Shanghai, just prior to the Japanese invasion of eastern China. At the time, nightlife, at least in the foreign settlements, was at its decadent apex. Into this heady world comes a blind American, a former diplomat (Ralph Fiennes), who opens a chic nightclub where he meets a beautiful Russian countess (Natasha Richardson), reduced to working as a bar girl to support her daughter and aristocratic family who have fled the turmoil in their homeland. Co-produced by the Shanghai Film Group, and shot in Shanghai in late 2004, The White Countess is the last collaboration between famed producers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (A Room with a View, Howard’s End); Merchant died in May 2005 after completing the film. Along with a screenplay by celebrated UK novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, and masterly cinematography by Christopher Doyle, the film displays the Merchant/Ivory’s usual hallmarks: sumptuous production design, detailed period reconstruction, and solid performances. However, this time round, they fall short of their best work. A disjointed structure, ineffective pacing, capped by a hollow emotional climax, all combine to lose the viewer long before the film sails off into a clichéd sunset.
Merchant-Ivory Productions

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
July 2006 issue