The White Countess

A film set in the Shanghai of the 1930s. Todd is a former American diplomat. He cannot see; he lost his family and his eyes in an attack and now moves between bars. One night he wins at gambling and takes an idea. He will open his own bar, there will be music in it, and a certain tension must be present inside; describing it, he is looking for a political balance. Sofia is a Russian aristocrat. She fled the revolution, lives with her family in a single room, and supports them by dancing in nightclubs. Todd makes her an offer. She will stand at the centre of the bar and the place will take its name from her. The bar opens and it works. From there the film runs two lines side by side. On one, how the woman's family treats her; on the other, the occupation approaching outside. Sofia's family is the film's bitterest part. They live on the money she earns and humiliate her for how she earns it. What the narrative is interested in is not love but exile: both are without a country, and the bar is a temporary one each has built. The Japanese occupation is coming. The city begins to empty and the last section takes place in a crowd at the port. The screenplay is by Kazuo Ishiguro and was written directly for the screen. This was the last film of the Merchant Ivory partnership; the producer Ismail Merchant died before it was completed. Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave are in the cast. James Ivory directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes period productions and slow drama that moves through speech. Who it is not for: anyone looking for pace; the film runs past two hours and the plot barely moves until the last half hour.