Shared Darkness

occasional prostitute who saves
him from lurking criminals one evening. Devastated by the loss of his
family, Jackson shares much in common, in the form of an emotional
void, with Sofia, a former aristocrat whose husband’s passing left the
family in financial ruin. With no one else to care for them, Sofia
supports her elderly Aunt Sara (Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave) and
Uncle Peter (John Wood), her spiteful mother-in-law Olga (Lynn
Redgrave) and sister-in-law Greshenka (Madeleine Potter) as well as her
own young daughter, Katya (Madelein Daly); certain parallels to the
story of Cinderella are obvious if not overly telegraphed. The White Countess
climaxes with the botched Japanese and Chinese bombings of Shanghai
that in real life touched off the Sino-Japanese War; here they serve as
a dramatic corporeal reminder that even the best wishes and plans are
subject to influences and circumstances beyond our control.

Like many of Ivory’s films, The White Countess is suffused
with issues of class consciousness, and here the further sub-category
of racial divide. The movie’s proper plot, including a mysterious
figure named Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada), who befriends Jackson, is
alternately plodding (at 136 minutes) and full of dense alleyways that
sometimes hold more interest than the main narrative arcs. What
liberates the film to a small degree is its painstakingly detailed
production design (courtesy of Andrew Sanders) and accompanying sense
of place; patient audiences more forgiving of The White Countess’ inertia will find welcome return in these elements.

Housed in a regular Amray case, The White Countess is
presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a transfer that
preserves the lucidity of cinematographer (and frequent Wong Kar Wai
collaborator) Christopher Doyle’s vivid, tightly composed frames.
Special features include a nice, shared audio commentary track with
director Ivory and Natasha Richardson, along with a brief making-of
featurette that highlights the film’s detailed production technique. A
tribute to Merchant and a second behind-the-scenes featurette are also
included, though these are less fully formed than one might hope. C (Movie) B (Disc)