Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant made 43 films together between 1961 and 2007. They worked with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins on more than half of them. Director Stephen Soucy’s valentine of a documentary “Merchant Ivory” recounts their remarkable partnership as well as individual moments in their lives and careers.
Interviews with many of the actors who worked on their films provide illuminating observations about the couple’s distinctive brand of cinema. Helena Bonham Carter, describes the filmmaking team as having a “symbiotic” relationship. Actress Emma Thompson sees “The Remains of the Day,” which she starred in for the filmmakers, as being “about people in disguise . . . because of society and culture,” and explains how that theme spoke to her as well as to Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala.
