The White Countess

In 1930s Shanghai, a blind American diplomat named Todd Jackson crosses paths with Countess Sofia Belinskya, a Russian exile who has fallen from her aristocratic life and now works in bars to support her late husband's family. Jackson, who lost his own family, envisions creating a nightclub called The White Countess, with Sofia as its centrepiece, and their arrangement grows into a deep attachment. As Japanese forces close in on the city, the upheaval separates them and disrupts the fragile world Jackson has built around her.

The film was directed by James Ivory, working from a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro. It followed Le Divorce (2003) in Ivory's filmography and was produced by Ismail Merchant, Andreas Grosch and Ren Zhonglun. Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson lead the cast, with Hiroyuki Sanada, Lynn Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave and Madeleine Potter in supporting roles, and roughly fifty credited cast members in total.

TThe White Countess was released in 2005 and runs 135 minutes. Made for about 16 million US dollars, it took roughly 4 million at the worldwide box office, a modest return against its cost. Audience response was mixed to positive: it holds 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb from around 7,300 votes, and 6.2 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller base of 88 votes.