Ismail Merchant’s passing leaves an indelible impression on my waking moments this weekend. It’s odd, really, and it even sounds absurd, but Merchan'ts passing seems that much more tragic in relation to the quality of films that are playing this week. It's as if Fate drew him a card and his influence would be that much more apparent.
Consider this: Take one look at the films playing at the local cineplex this week-- The Longest Yard, Madagascar, Revenge of the Sith, Monster-In-Law, Kicking and Screaming, and House of Wax, to name a few-- and you see the extreme disparity in the quality of film between the popular films playing now and those he produced under the highly successful film studio Merchant Ivory.
Merchant’s passing causes us to reflect on the films he and his lifelong partner and director, Richard Ivory created. And in this reflection, Merchant’s loss appears that much more great. His films appear to represent a golden era of filmmaking that seems gone forever to a litany of films catered to a viewership with the brains and attention span of a gnat. Especially when considering his three most known films, and literally some of my personal favorites – A Room With a View (1986), Howard’s End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1995) – Merchant and company created films introducing us to themes on the struggle for dignity, class structures, and complex human relationships. Enhanced by brilliant scripts by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Merchant’s films were always visual and provocative feasts.
IN fact, I dare say that there was a time when just the mention of Merchant Ivory brought to one’s mind beautiful cinematography, the paragon of the period piece, and Oscar. Roger Ebert, in his eulogy, compiled these numbers:
Merchant productions earned 31 Academy Award nominations, including "best picture" mentions for "Howards End" (1992), "Remains of the Day" (1993) and "A Room With a View" (1985). "The Creation of Woman" (1960), the short film that began his career when he took it to Cannes, was also an Oscar nominee. "Howards End" and "Room With a View" both won as best picture at the BAFTA awards, the "British Oscars."
Merchant passed away while working on their latest film The White Countess, starring Natasha Richardson, Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave. Set in 1930s Shanghai, Fiennes plays a blind American diplomat who develops a curious relationship with a young Russian refugee (Natasha Richardson) who works odd, and sometimes illicit jobs in order to support members of her dead husband's aristocratic family.
Sir Anthony Hopkins gave this statement to the BBC in regards to Merchant’s death: "He was the one and truly great maverick producer, a law to himself. He could charm the birds out of the trees, which had its very positive side (most of the time) and sometimes he could get you to work for nothing."
In his introduction to "Film: A Montage of Theories," Richard Dyer McCann quoted the film critic Arnold Hauser as saying "all art is a game with and a fight against chaos. The film that simply says life is chaos is a film which has not undertaken the battle of art."
I can’t help but think that the top-grossing films of the here and now are gleefully created to cater to the chaos crowd because chaos sells, especially if you can sell it behind CGI visual effects (Revenge of the Sith) or J. Lo’s ass (Monster-In-Law).
Only a few filmmakers these days even concern themselves with art. Unfortunately, the artisans have just lost one of their finest champions.
****Roger Ebert’s thoughts on the passing of Merchant can be read here.****
Here is Merchant’s filmography:
"The White Countess" (2005) (producer)
"Heights" (2004) (producer)
"Le Divorce" (2003) (producer)
"The Mystic Masseur" (2001) (director)
"The Golden Bowl" (2000) (producer)
"Cotton Mary" (1999) (director, producer)
"The Proprietor" (1996) (director, producer)
"Surviving Picasso" (1996) (producer)
"Jefferson in Paris" (1995) (producer)
"In Custody" (1993) (director)
"The Remains of the Day" (1993) (producer)
"Howards End" (1992) (producer)
"The Ballad of the Sad Café" (1991) (producer)
"Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" (1990) (producer)
"Slaves of New York" (1989) (producer)
"The Deceivers" (1988) (producer)
"Maurice" (1987) (producer)
"A Room with a View" (1985) (producer)
"The Bostonians" (1984) (producer)
"Heat and Dust" (1983) (producer)
"Quartet" (1981) (producer)
"Jane Austen in Manhattan" (1980) (producer)
"The Europeans" (1979) (producer)
"Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures" (1978)
"Roseland" (1977) (producer)
"The Wild Party" (1975) (producer)
"Mahatma and the Mad Boy" (1974) (director, producer)
"Savages" (1972) (producer)
"Bombay Talkie" (1970) (producer)
"Shakespeare-Wallah" (1965)
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