Merchant Ivory, founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, produced 44 films that spanned a wide range of styles and topics. They are most known, however, for their run of intelligent and sumptuous Academy Award-winning period dramas released during the 1980s and 90s. Stars from those films, including Vanessa Redgrave, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter, speak with candor about their time on and off set with the filmmakers. So does James Ivory, a longtime resident of Claverack, bringing a new perspective to his working and personal partnership with Merchant, who died suddenly in 2005.
“Not every documentary about filmmaking successfully dives beneath the surface as this one does. But then, few subjects are as rich or as deep as that of Ismail Merchant & James Ivory. In short, they were one-of-a-kind. Make it a priority to catch this one.” — Leonard Maltin, leonardmaltin.com
“[The film] demonstrates just how forward-thinking Merchant and Ivory were, and how remarkable it is that they managed to make their meticulous, sumptuous movies. More important and radically, the film explores groundbreaking depictions of the inner lives of gay men in several Merchant Ivory films.” — Alyssa Wilkinson, The New York Times
directed by
Stephen Soucy
Stephen Soucy
written by
Jon Hart, Stephen Soucy
Jon Hart, Stephen Soucy
with
John David Allen, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, John Bright
John David Allen, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, John Bright
country
United States
United States