Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

James Hitchcock "The White Countess" was the last film made by the Merchant-Ivory partnership before Ismail Merchant's death. Most of their films were set either among the upper-middle-classes of England or America, or in Merchant's native India, but the setting for this one is, unusually, Shanghai in the late 1930s. Despite that setting, however, none of the major characters is actually Chinese. The title character is Countess Sofia Belinskaya, one of a family of White Russian émigrés who have escaped the Bolshevik Revolution but have sunk into poverty in Shanghai, a city which at this period had a large European community. Sofia is forced to earn a living as a nightclub hostess. (It is hinted, but never definitely stated, that her work may involve an element of prostitution). Although her earnings are their only source of revenue, her snobbish aristocratic family look down on her because of her occupation which they regard as unworthy of a Countess; they even forbid her to mention her work in front of her young daughter, Katya. The family's great hope is to save enough money to escape to Hong Kong where they believe that they will have a better life than in Shanghai. This belief may well be mistaken, but for them Hong Kong takes on a significance similar to that of Moscow for Chekhov's Three Sisters. Chekhov, in fact, seems to have been an influence on Kazuo Ishiguro's screenplay, with its theme of impoverished Russian aristos. The film deals with the romance which grows up between Sofia and Todd Jackson, a blind former American diplomat, who now runs his own nightclub. Over the course of the film we learn how Todd lost his sight, and also about another tragedy in his past. Todd invites Sofia to work in his club, paying her more than she earned in her previous job, and names it "The White Countess" in her honour. Like most Merchant-Ivory dramas, this one is strong on period detail, but it is rather drab in appearance and lacks the visual appeal of some of James Ivory's earlier efforts. The film is slow-moving, but the same could be said about a number of Merchant-Ivorys, and this is not necessarily a fault. In my view the main drawback is that the emotional temperature is too low for what is, after all, a film about love and grief. I would not place the blame for this upon the actors; indeed, there are very creditable performances in the leading roles from the late Natasha Richardson and Ralph Fiennes, both playing characters desperately trying to find happiness after great misfortune and personal tragedy. Two of Sofia's older female relatives are played by Natasha's real-life mother Vanessa Redgrave and her aunt Lynn Redgrave. Fiennes, more normally seen as an upper-class Englishman, makes a convincing American (with an accent possibly based upon James Stewart's). Rather surprisingly, in my view the main fault lies with the screenplay, even though it was written by a distinguished who was later to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Except at the very end when war breaks out between China and Japan, the script seems too bloodless, lacking both in dramatic tension and in passion. Stephen Holden of the "New York Times" said of the film that "What is missing ............. is a racing, dramatic pulse. Its sedate tone is simply too refined for the story it has to tell", and my own view would be similar. It is sad that the Merchant-Ivory partnership, which had been responsible for films as good as "The Europeans", "A Room with a View" and "Howard's End", could not have ended on a higher note. 6/10

happipuppi13 I've realized over the years that I have a fondness for "underdog" movies.No,not in terms of plot but for movies that either don't get the critical recognition they deserve or just were not widely accepted or known by audiences.A family member received this from a friend and we watched it together and while they liked the movie okay,I liked it more and decided I'd keep the DVD.The reason I liked it more was that it could tell a story about this time in the Orient's history,without resorting to overly-violent,disturbing images.We see the invasion of Japan on Shanghai and the chaos and violence associated but are spared having to see bloodied or burned bodies or bullets entering flesh. I found this refreshing for a change.The Russian Countess and her "royal family" and the Mr. Jackson character share the burden of having had their lives leveled by sad and unexpected circumstances. They suffer in their own ways , which is how the two story devices come together as one.She has to be a "private dancer" (and more) to earn money and he's losing his place in the political world because of his blindness. The two are brought together by the taking of blind faith chances or risks.He offers her the chance to be the "centerpice" of his dream of the perfect club,without her having to sell her body. He also takes a long shot risk on a horse race to make this dream a reality.They are also surrounded by people who have no faith in them and dislike their personal choices. Most notably the Countess's family. They are "shamed" by her line of work but do nothing to make money themselves. They also fear her choice of profession is a bad example for her young daughter.It's probably a no brainer that they would fall in love and I like the way it was handled here. They have an agreement not to get personal when working together and for a time I didn't think they'd be lovers in the end.It's the realities of their situations that eventually do bring them together and I found their realization of feelings completely real. This and the climax of the film make the ending not just dramatic but a fully realized and sensible conclusion.Ten stars from me to the late Natahsa Richardson & Lynn Redgrave both who were gone by the time I had seen this. Bravo to you both and all involved. (END)

kyrat For someone whose family went through this, it was a very emotional film to watch. My great-grandparents and grandparents lived in Shanghai from the about the twenties to the early fifties. Watching this, and imagining my family having to go through similar issues made it hard to watch for me.It meant a lot to get a glimpse of what Shanghai might've been like in those years, what living there as a refuge was like, being driven out by the communists, having to flee to yet another country. This was something they did not like to speak of, so I did not have much knowledge of it. On the other side of my family, my great-grandmother could not get a visa along with my grandparents and their kids so she stayed behind and died in France, so I also understand the heartbreak of leaving one behind.Which brings me to my one problem with the film -is the way the family treated Sofia. Yes, they were probably too proud (willing to live off her but not work themselves), very judgemental of her, ashamed of her - but I can not imagine them purposefully leaving someone behind! It would have made more sense if the French consulate who was pursuing Sofia would refuse to give her a visa in retaliation for his snub.There will be many thing probably lost on most people. For example, the movie title plays on her name means WHITE and from czarist Russians being referred to as "white" Russians. Those who understand Russian will get more from the background dialogue and the caberet acts. Those descended from "white" Russians may recognize that certain nostalgia and a certain deluded belief that they could recreate their lost world (or the belief that when the communists were defeated, everything would go back to life pre-1917). A struggle to hold onto as much of the culture, way of life and religion seemed to be very prevalent. Unfortunately, the anti-semitism may also ring true (having already been prevalent in Russian and exacerbated by the revolution). I think others will also enjoy it. The sets, costumes, general mis-en-scene seems very realistic. It has exceptionally fine actors, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson and Hiroyuki Sanada and others. I would say it's worth a watch for most people - though they may not get as much out of the film as a Russian descendant, it's still quite good.

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete Warning! This review contains spoilers. It will reveal the end of the movie. If you don't want to know the end of the movie, don't read this review."White Countess"' advertising is misleading. The poster depicts the very handsome Ralph Fiennes passionately kissing the very beautiful Natasha Richardson. "Echoes of Casablanca!" a review is quoted.Well ... no. This ain't "Casablanca," and it is not, primarily, a passionate love story."White Countess" is also not a deep or important movie. It's not saying big things in an aesthetically successful way.Really what it is is a chilly, stodgy, art class exercise. Script writer Kazuo Ishiguro has received highbrow critical acclaim, and he's trying to be smart and important here, and he fails.Basic story: exiled Russian countess Sofia (Natasha Richardson), in the post-Revolutionary, pre-WW II era, does taxi dancing, and perhaps also prostitution, in Shanghai. She thereby supports her miserable, scheming, whining, unattractive, lazy, parasitic family. Two members of the family are played by Richardson's real life family, Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave.Blind American Todd Jackson, (Ralph Fiennes) opens a new nightclub, and hires Sofia to be his hostess.Eventually, the Japanese invade, and Todd, Sofia, her daughter, her Jewish neighbor and his daughter, escape on a boat.And that's it. Why does this story take over two hours to tell, and to tell coldly, leaving most viewers and critics surprisingly unmoved? Because it's all a big metaphor. Todd Jackson, blind American, who connives to get Japanese, Chinese, thugs, socialites, in his bar, is a symbol of America. He's always smiling, and he seems like a nice guy, but he keeps messing with foreign affairs.It is revealed, through flashbacks, that he used to be a diplomat, and was involved with the League of Nations. He befriends Matsuda, a Japanese man and, what do you know, the Japanese invade Shanghai. Those d*** Americans, scriptwriter Ishiguro implies; if only they didn't mess with things, the Japanese wouldn't have committed all those atrocities in China.Yeah, it is that silly. And pseudo-deep.Also, Jackson is attracted to Sofia, as he states in so many words, because she is a beautiful woman with a tragic past. That arch, intellectual distance from any spontaneous human emotion, any real human contact, is the tone of the entire film. It's like an abstract painting, pushing the viewer away from any involvement with the characters.Given what an art class exercise and mind game this movie is, it was utterly dishonest of the filmmakers to advertise it as a romance for the ages.Fiennes and Richardson kiss once, and it is awkward and unpleasant. "Casablanca"? I don't think so.The sets are lovely, though. They do convey a sense of Shanghai in a perilous moment.And the performances, for what they are, are great. Natasha Richardson does a very nice Russian accent. She plays her part -- that of a stupid, bullied, and thereby unappealing Russian countess, well.Fiennes is a phenomenon. I don't know if his performance here should be praised or dissected. His American accent is very good, and his phony smile never fades. But his performance is in service of a cypher, not a real part, not a real human being, and a plot that is didactic and pretentious rather than in service to telling a human story.