Merchant Ivory | Dir: Stephen Soucy | ★★★★½
James Ivory became the oldest person to win an Academy Award when he won Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me By My Name in 2018 at the age of 89. He reflected that the film was an unabashed love story that everyone could identify with, as the emotion of the story meant more than the sexual orientation of the characters.
It would have been a bitter-sweet sentiment for Ivory as, for more than four decades, he had to keep his romantic relationship with his film producing partner Ismail Merchant a secret. The two met in the early sixties and were together until Merchant died in 2005.
Merchant/Ivory became a trademark for lush period dramas such as Howard’s End, Remains of the Day and Room With a View, which helped break down prejudiced perceptions of homosexuality along with their film Maurice (“the grand-daddy of gay films”).
Director Ivory, producer Merchant and screenwriter Ruth PrawerJhabvala (who died in 2013) all lived together for years in upstate New York, and composer Richard Robbins (who died in 2012) later joined their creative bubble.
In Stephen Soucy’s documentary, Ivory (now 96) says of his and Merchant’s relationship, “When we were making all those films, and, you know, we made over 20 features together, that was not something that seemed all that important.” Actually, they made 43 films together if you count the low budget ones in their early days.
Soucy goes behind the scenes to reveal the yin and yang that comprised the rich relationship of Merchant and Ivory, with Ivory being the calm and gentle perfectionist and Merchant being the explosive one, needing to get things done.
Famous actors and people who worked on their films speak of the absolute chaos and the drive to keep going despite phenomenal difficulties. They speak fondly about being part of the Merchant /Ivory dysfunctional family that made films on a shoestring.
Merchant Ivory screens as part of the British Film Festival that is on at Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinema from 6 November until Sunday 8 December.
Lezly Herbert , images from documentary trailer.
