Fiennes brilliant in The White Countess

Merchant-Ivory’s final collaboration, The White Countess (SPHE, €21.99) is a beautifully-shot film that serves as a fitting, though overlong finale to the duo’s work.

Set in 1930s Shanghai, Ralph Fiennes plays a blind and somewhat disillusioned US diplomat, Todd Jackson, who runs his own nightclub. Natasha Richardson is Russian émigré Countess Sofia, hired by Jackson to be his hostess.