The White Countess

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The White Countess
The White Countess Promotional Movie Poster
Directed by	James Ivory
Produced by	Ismail Merchant
Written by	Kazuo Ishiguro
Starring	Ralph Fiennes Natasha Richardson Vanessa Redgrave Hiroyuki Sanada Lynn Redgrave Allan Corduner Madeleine Potter
Music by	Richard Robbins
Cinematography	Christopher Doyle
Editing by	John David Allen
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	21 December 2005
Running time	135 min
Country	UK, USA, China
Language	English, Chinese
IMDb profile

The White Countess is a 2005 Merchant/Ivory film set in Shanghai in the late 1930s. The film was directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant (his last film prior to his death), and with an original screenplay by the acclaimed novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro.The film is also notable as the first time sisters Lynn Redgrave and Vanessa Redgrave have appeared together in a feature film.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Natasha Richardson	Countess Sofia Belinskya
Lynn Redgrave	Olga Belinskya
Madeleine Potter	Grushenka
Madeleine Daly	Katya
John Wood	Prince Peter Belinsky
Vanessa Redgrave	Princess Vera Belinskya
Allan Corduner	Samuel Feinstein
Ralph Fiennes	Todd Jackson
Hiroyuki Sanada	Matsuda

[edit] Plot

In 1936, the Countess Sofia Belinskya (Natasha Richardson), is working as a taxi dancer in Shanghai, in order to support what remains of her family which includes Princess Vera Belinskya (portrayed by Richardson's mother, the noted actress Vanessa Redgrave) and her mother-in-law, Olga Belinskya (portrayed by Richardson's aunt, the noted actress Lynn Redgrave). They are "White Emigres" who have been left stateless by the Russian Revolution of 1917. She eventually meets Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), a former American diplomat who became blind after a tragic event. Jackson eventually asks her to work in a bar he opens called "The White Countess" after her. They develop feelings for each other, which are only fully expressed at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.