Final Act; the White Countess, the Last Film Made by Famed Filmmaking Team Merchant Ivory, Sputters to Life During Its Last Minutes.

Summary

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They shouldn't worry: The only character here who really falls under the sway of the aristocratic taxi dancer is Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), a former American diplomat and current barfly recently blinded by a terrorist attack. He's been dreaming of opening the perfect nightclub: classy, politically diverse, and filled with women who exhibit "a balance between the erotic and the tragic." He stumbles into Sofia's erotic/tragic sphere; she helps him avoid some potential muggers lurking outside the definitely imperfect nightclub she works in; and, soon enough, one handsome, guarded expat is a lot closer to realizing his vision.

The White Countess, also the name of Jackson's Utopian establishment, is a characteristically stately if sometimes sluggish finale to producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory's 44-year partnership. The gloomy monochrome of the [Belinsky] home and its wan inhabitants is meant to contrast with the vitality of Jackson's nightclub. Though here, where a significant portion of the movie takes place, vitality is represented by a house full of clientele watching performances by ballerinas and people dressed as cats.

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Final Act; the White Countess, the Last Film Made by Famed Filmmaking Team Merchant Ivory, Sputters to Life During Its Last Minutes.

Politics shackle the characters in The White Countess. The movie, which will be forever famous as the final Merchant Ivory collaboration, opens in 1936 Shanghai, where a family of Russian ro...

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