It's the end of an era. Producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory have placed their unique stamp on 45 films in nearly as many years, a Guiness Book of World Records achievement for the longest partnership in independent cinema. With Merchant's death in May, Sony Pictures Classics' "The White Countess," -- opening in limited engagements Wednesday -- marks the final movie they've filmed together.
This pre-World War II drama has all the qualities audiences have come to expect in "A Merchant Ivory production," a moniker that, despite their periodic efforts to do light comedies ("Slaves of New York," "Le Divorce"), has come to evoke quietly tasteful literary adaptations and period pieces, usually scripted by longtime collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. "To some people, it's pejorative," the 77-year-old Ivory says. "To others, it's admirable. I think it stands for civilized entertainment." Regardless, the quality of their best work -- "A Room With a View," "Howards End" and "The Remains of the Day" -- speaks for itself.
Their last film, from an original screenplay by "Remains" novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, follows a fallen aristocratic Russian family (played by Natasha Richardson, her mother Vanessa Redgrave and aunt Lynn Redgrave, working onscreen together for the first time) who have fled the Bolshevik Revolution to 1936 Shanghai. Richardson is forced into a life of dance halls and prostitution until a stranger (Ralph Fiennes) sees something in her decayed royal glory and anoints her as his nightclub's hostess.
Much like his often haunted characters, Ivory is at first in no mood to reminisce about the final days he spent working with Merchant, who died at 68. "It's with reluctance I face going back to Shanghai (for the film's possible screening)," Ivory says. "Some things I don't want to remember, things he said on the set, his suppers for members of the crew in his house," Ivory says, trailing off. "There'll be no more of that."
But with a bit of goading, he recalls several of their escapades. "We've had many tight escapes from disaster again and again," Ivory recalls, "especially in India," Merchant's birthplace and the setting for many of their earliest English-language films. He remembers a time when Teamsters arrived on the New England set of "The Bostonians" demanding work, which Merchant handled by taking them all out to a lavish dinner. "At the end, he said, 'My wallet is empty. Do you have any cash on you?' " Ivory laughs. "They never came back to bother us again."
"On this film, few matters would erupt into arguments, but one shocking thing happened: A disagreement arose with (a top staffer) five weeks into shooting over something silly," Ivory recalls, declining to give details. "He announced he was going to leave with his crew. We would have been stranded, but Ismail's diplomacy worked everything out."
The pair retained ownership on most of their films, including "Countess," through private financing or rights transferred from distributors after a quarter century.
"The White Countess" won't be the final Ivory film with Merchant's influence: The partners went on a long location-scouting trip to Argentina for Jhabvala's adaptation of the aptly titled Peter Cameron novel "The City of Our Final Destination," now slated for a late summer shoot.
Recalling Merchant's several suggestions during "Countess" -- like having a childhood friend of Richardson's disgraced character kiss her hand -- Ivory says, "I've not gotten used to the death of the creative part of our friendship. I want to make sure he'd approve of what I'm doing." Does he ever think, what would Ismail do? "Yes," he says. "Definitely."