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Set in Shanghai in the late 1930s, this is the
story of the relationship between a disillusioned former US
diplomat and a refugee White Russian countess reduced to a sordid
life in the city's bars.
Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), once an American diplomat filled
with idealism, has lost his sight several years earlier, and is
now languishing in Shanghai's grand hotels and elite gentlemen's
clubs, a burnt-out case, He has become bitterly disillusioned by
realpolitik and the seemingly unavoidable nature of war and
conflict. He is, moreover, deeply bereaved by the deaths of his
wife and children - victims of violent events in the political
turmoil of 1930s China that also robbed him of his sight.
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Vera (Vanessa Redgrave) and Olga (Lynn Redgrave) in Shanghai
Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave on
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Photo by Lynn Redgrave
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As the film begins, we find him trying to retreat
into a smaller, more controllable world by way of an ambition he
has always secretly nurtured: to create here, in perhaps the
world's most licentious, glittering and sordid port, the perfect
bar. After countless hours spent critically examining dive after
dive in the city's pleasure districts, Jackson has become a
connoisseur of decadence. And one day, after a chance meeting with
Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada) - a mysterious Japanese who appears to
share Jackson's refined eye for the beauty of low-life
establishments - Jackson gambles his savings on a horse, wins, and
sets about realizing his masterpiece: a bar that will achieve the
exquisite balance of romance, tragedy, and political tension. |
| He is assisted in his project by Matsuda. The
fact that Matsuda is a decidedly shadowy figure fails to worry
Jackson. And when rumors circulate that Matsuda has come to
Shanghai to oversee a Japanese invasion of the city, Jackson still
willfully refuses to listen. He absorbs himself in perfecting his
bar, determined to keep the larger world - and his deeper emotions
- locked firmly outside.
Sofia (Natasha Richardson) is a White Russian countess in her
thirties who fled the Bolshevik Revolution as a child. Her
immediate family have perished. She now lives in a Shanghai slum
with members of her late husband's aristocratic family, including
Olga (Lynn Redgrave), Sarah (Vanessa Redgrave) and Sofia's
ten-year-old daughter, Katya (Madeleine Cooper). Sofia is the
household's sole breadwinner, working as a taxi-dancer in dingy
night spots, resorting to prostitution when times are hard. The
rest of the household show their gratitude by endlessly
ostracizing her for bringing disgrace to the family.
Olga (Lynn Redgrave)
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Vanessa Redgrave on set in Shanghai
Photo by Lynn Redgrave
Jackson encounters Sofia one night working at her taxi-dance
hall, decides she is the perfect blend of tragedy and sensuality
and asks her to become the centerpiece of his perfect bar. Thus
begins a relationship that will see Jackson - despite his best
efforts - slowly coaxed out of his enclosed world. He gradually
comes to concede that Sofia may be more than a beautiful picture,
becomes drawn to the spirited young Katya, and ultimately, into
the intrigues within the family to separate Sofia from her child.
The story ends as the Japanese invade Shanghai, with the entire
world on the brink of World War II. Ironically, it is at this
point that Jackson, in acknowledging his love for Sofia and her
daughter, finds reawakened his own idealism for a world free from
war. |
Vera (Vanessa Redgrave)
Photo by Lynn Redgrave
Director James Ivory, Lynn Redgrave, and Julian Sands at the
premiere of The White Countess
Photo by Keith Stern
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Olga (Lynn Redgrave), Katya (Madeleine Cooper), and Madeleine
Potter in Shanghai
The White Countess is an original screenplay written by
Kazuo Ishiguro, author of the novel The Remains of the Day
and the screenplay for The Saddest Music in the World. It
is directed by James Ivory (The Golden Bowl, Jefferson in Paris,
The Remains of the Day, Howards End, A Room with a View, Maurice).
Principal photography in and around
Shanghai.
Articles
New York Times |
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