I found this film on the MPLEX Chanel TV listings of Comcast Xfinity. The listing gave it just 2 of 4 stars, but as a history buff I found the description blurb compelling: "Intriguing love story, set in 1936 Shanghai, in which a disillusioned blind diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) falls for a ruined Russian royal (Natasha Richardson) working as a B-girl. Richardson's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and aunt, Lynn Redgrave, costar."I set my DVR to record it a while back but just got around to watching it I am writing this review to protest the 2-star rating of the listing. Maybe its not 4-star, but it deserves at least 3-star. Richardson's Countess' job is more correctly labeled as a "taxi dancer" in a cabaret-bar, not a "bar girl." But in 1936 it is still a disgraceful job in the minds of her mother, aunt and sister-in-law, who live with her and are supported by her earnings, but still pretend their royal birth entitles them to a better life. This becomes significant late in the film. Fiennes' character has given up any pretense of using his reputation as a top American diplomat for the stodgy respectable company that pays his salary, and dreams of one-day owning a cabaret of his own with just the right amount of tension between internationally diverse clientèle, a select group of bouncers, the right entertainment, and the ideal elegant but sad woman to set the sexual atmosphere. He wants to live in his dream bar and shut out the messy real world outside.

With an international cast and much of the movie actually set on location, "The White Countess" seems to have most of the design needed to bring out pre-WWII era China, but the director, Ivory, may be a bit too ambitious. The sets and styles seem often too set-like for their own good, and draw attention to themselves - extras seemed like extras, costumes like costumes, explosions more like fireworks and so on and so forth. Understandably the main character Jackson's in sort of a malaise, but the movie plods along despite it's in your face character development. There seemed to be little chemistry between actors Fiennes and Richardson as well. The acting and dialog is well enough though - the movie needs a little more going for it than bar-scene after bar-scene and murky political dialog. It's a near miss for me.

"The White Countess" is a beautiful film, sumptuously shot with glorious colours evoking the grandeur of Shanghai in the 1930's. Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson play the male and female leads respectively, struggling with a sub-standard script. People have waxed lyrical about the themes of isolation that run through the rhetoric, but it's just so depressingly done, at the end of the film one doesn't actually care for the protagonists any more. Ralph Fiennes plays his blind diplomat as a buffoon, appearing drunk in almost every scene. Natasha Richardson struggles with a Russian accent and fails miserably. The only masterstroke is the casting of Vanessa and Lynne Redgrave as the mother and aunt respectively. It lends the film an authentic air of continuity. Ultimately, the film fails in its execution, it's overlong and could have done with tighter editing. It's a pity that this had to be Merchant-Ivory's swansong.

The time is 1937, place Shanghai,China, The International Settlement. China is in turmoil,, Japan is about to enter Shanghai.The peoples are the exiles & refugees from all over the world.We are concerned with a family of White Russians (the Nobility who fled Russia nearly 20 years earlier. A Jewish father & his children who escaped Hitler in time. A ex-British diplomat now blinded, & assorted other exiles & an inscrutable Japanese business man.In the 1930's we had many films of this nature, filmed on the back lot, done in the usual Hollywood style. THis film was made in China.As typical of Merchant-Ivory films, the production values are near flawless. The acting by all is first rate.The cast headed by Ralph Fiennes as the blind ex-diplomat, Natasha Richardson as the exiled Countess, & her real life Mother &^ Aunt, Vanessa & Lynm Redgrave as exiled Russuian nobility. Natasha work with Ralph Finnes is the White Countess Restaurant Night club,obviously they do become attached. The final 30 minutes is about the exiles escape to safety..The film is long but the 135 minutes runs fast, excellent production values, & nice finale to a great production teamRatings: ***1/2 (out of4) 92 points (out of 100) IMDb (9 out of 10)