The White Countess

The final Merchant-Ivory production, The White Countess, is receiving a limited release this weekend and had producer Ismail Merchant lived a few months longer -- he died last May -- he might have been pleased by the reviews of the film on which he spent the remains of his days. Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News is one of several critics who remarks that the movie marks a fitting conclusion to the celebrated partnership of James Ivory and the late Ismail Merchant. He says that many of the distinctive Merchant-Ivory elements are combined here, including bang-for-the-buck production design, a literate presentation and extraordinary performances by the stars, Natasha Richardson, and Ralph Fiennes. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert writes that he saw his first Merchant-Ivory movie, Shakespeare Wallah, in 1965. So for 40 years, I have been watching them living up to their own standards when the world didn't care and, lately, even when it did. Sometimes they have made great films, sometimes flawed ones, even bad ones, but never shabby or unworthy ones. Here is one that is good to better, poignant, patient, moving. Claudia Puig, in her USA Today review, concludes: Through the past three decades, Merchant and Ivory have been virtually synonymous with sumptuous, beautifully crafted period dramas. With Merchant's death in May, this film is a fitting tribute to the end of an era. Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune comments that, with this film, the Merchant-Ivory partnership ends on a very high note, with a deeply evocative film, beautifully done. Jan Stuart in Newsday remarks that the film offers up heaps of everything we have come to depend on Merchant and Ivory for: hyper-articulate dialogue, authentic period detail, impassioned performances from the cr?me de la cr?me of English-speaking actors. Not all critics are impressed, however. With its tentative pace, fussy, pieced-together structure and stuffy emotional climate, The White Countess never develops any narrative stamina, writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times.