Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Hiroyuki Sanada, Allan Corduner, John Wood, Madeleine Potter

Director: James Ivory

Summary: Former Russian countess Sofia has fled to 1930s Shanghai with her dead husband's family. She works in a dance hall where she meets blind former diplomat Todd Jackson. As the tension between the Chinese and Japanese mounts, they find themselves having to deal with their feelings for each other.

The incomparable Natasha Richardson stars as Sofia, a former Russian countess who has fled with her dead husband's family to 1930s Shanghai. She works in a seedy dance hall to earn the household's only income but Sofia's dependents are less than grateful, turning up their noses at her fallen stature while remorselessly accepting her money. The blue blood runs thick in Sofia's house, with two other Redgraves, Vanessa and Lynn, flawlessly portraying deposed nobility; Sofia's daughter Katya (Madeleine Potter) is her only source of joy. Meanwhile, blind former diplomat Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) patronizes Shanghai's colourful drinking establishments, and dreams of opening one of his own. He gains the courage to do so when he meets Sofia; she saves him from being robbed one night, intercepting some thuggish types and seeing him to safety while also capturing his imagination. She becomes his muse, her history injecting Jackson's bar--the White Countess--with just the right note of tragedy and romance. Their relationship, however, is kept strictly on the level of a professional friendship. But as the tension between the Chinese and Japanese mounts towards war--catalyzed in part by Jackson's friend, the mysterious but powerful Mr. Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada)--Mr Jackson is forced to accept that he cannot keep the world at bay inside the White Countess, and must instead deal directly with his feelings for Sofia. The final entry in the canon of quietly rich tales from producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, THE WHITE COUNTESS enlists Kazuo Ishiguro (REMAINS OF THE DAY) and master cinematographer Christopher Doyle (CHUNGKING EXPRESS) to weave its sumptuous magic.

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A stellar cast and an intricate script enhance this last film from the elegant producing/directing team of Merchant/Ivory (creators of A Room with a View, Howards End, and more). Set in 1930s Shanghai, "The White Countess" is both Sofia (Natasha Richardson, Patty Hearst), a fallen member of the Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat named Jackson (Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient), who asks Sofia to be the centrepiece of the world he wants to create. Sofia accepts to escape a life of prostitution, but Jackson's world proves both fragile and volatile--as does Shanghai itself, on the verge of an invasion from Japan. The script, by novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day), is fundamentally about culture--what it is, how it's formed, how it shapes and is shaped by human desires--but to describe it thus makes the movie sound academic. Instead, it's lush and subtle, fluid in how it weaves together two people deeply wounded by past losses, who gradually come to embrace what the immediate moment has to offer. Fiennes and Richardson are the movie's core, but surrounding them is a stunning supporting cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave (Mrs. Dalloway, Julia), Lynn Redgrave (Shine), Allan Corduner (Topsy-Turvy), and Hiroyuki Sanada (Ringu).--Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary with James Ivory and Natasha Richardson,, Featurette 'Behind-The-Scenes',, A Tribute To Ismail Merchant,, Making of 'The White Countess'
Subtitles:	Croatian, Icelandic, Dutch, Romanian, Slovenian, Czech, Hungarian, Bulgarian, English, Arabic, HIndi, Polish, Turkish
Year:	2005
Release Date:	August 14, 2006
Runtime:	130 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 39326
Keywords:	White, General, Countess, Drama
Genre:	Drama