The White Countess

Nobody told me that Ralph Fiennes starred in a movie called The White Countess with Natasha Richardson and the Redgrave sisters and that this movie was shown last year. My dad bought the DVD last week, and I got coerced to watch it last night. It just goes to show that the hole I have burrowed for myself is really deep and that I need to get out.

Anyway... The White Countess was set in Shanghai in the 1930s, just at the eve of World War II. The title refers to the name of the bar set up by Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-diplomat who lost his family and his sight in a series of tragedies. The title also refers to Sofia Belinskaya (Natasha Richardson), a Russian countess who was displaced by the Russian revolution along with the rest of the aristocracy, and who was forced to work as a taxi dancer (and probably a prostitute) to support her daughter and the rest of her family.

To me, the movie is full of contrasts. A blind man who sees perfection in a woman supposedly tarnished by the work she does. A woman who faces hard reality squarely to keep a family whose members cling stubbornly to memories of wealth and indulgence, which shall never come again into their lives, from starving. A bar that stood by itself, the realization of a dream of all that is balanced and beautiful, amidst chaos.

The White Countess is told simply, understated and yet poignant. The cinematography is marvelous, sometimes whimsical, sometimes sensual, but never harsh even in the portrayal of hardship. It is a beautiful movie, and I yearn to watch it again.