Ismail Merchant, producer for the very successful Merchant-Ivory partnership passed away in London at the age of 68 today. The vastness of his ouevre cannot be underestimated.
I have probably seen almost every Merchant-Ivory film. They have been seminal influences on my own perspectives of visual art. Ismail Merchant's very first film at the age of 22, "The Creation Of Woman" won him an Academy Nomination, and was the US entry to Cannes, where he met James Ivory. This was produced as a 14-minute short, while he worked for McCann-Erikson, wherein noted Indian dance maestro Bhaskar Roy Chaudhuri plays the Indian creator god Brahma, whose role encompasses the creation of Adam and Eve as well. (He earlier made "Venice: Theme and Variations" and "The Sword and the Flute" as a USC grad student - actually directed by James Ivory).
From their first feature film together, "The Householder", they formed Merchant-Ivory Productions, and began work with "the rootless intellectual" Indian English writer Ruth Prawer-Jhabwala that lasted across two decades and numerous films. This film was another seminal film, with contributions by Satyajit Ray & his cameraman Subrata Mitra(Pather Panchali). It was their next film, "Shakespeare-Wallah" however, that was a real blockbuster, and a major force for English theater on the subcontient. The dilemma of the outsider who is not one, expressed by Mrs Buckingham in the immortal ""Everything is different when you belong to a place. When it's yours." was a continuous theme of their works. Ray provided the music again.
Subsequent films explored colonization, post-colonial colonials like Sir Nirad Chaudhuri, and the first Henry James adaptation, "The Europeans" in the 1970s. It was the release of the stunning "Heat And Dust" - one film that was sorely lacking from the recent 100 great films of Time magazine. I will refrain from singing the praises of this film, but will review it soon. (AVI/MOV trailer)
Article comments
1 - Doc
Yet another obit of a gay couple that makes no mention of the person's love for his partner...
Merchant and Ivory were business *and* "life" partners.
2 - Aaman
In other news, heterosexual person X died
3 - Lisa McKay
This is sad news. Like a lot of other people, I'm most familiar with Howard's End and Remains Of The Day (well, I'm also an Anthony Hopkins fan), but there's clearly much that should be added to the Netflix queue. The obit in this morning's NY Times is very interesting.
4 - Doc
Sorry, when Heterosexual X dies, we get the full family backstory. Considering Merchant and Ivory were just as successful in partnership (or more so) than Yoko and John Lennon, it seems sad to ignore that.
Gay people just become their professional resume's in their obits. Nothing of the personal.
5 - Eric Olsen
not an unreasonable point Doc, but as the person who writes most of the obits here, I can tell you I rarely get all that much into family life unless there is something particularly compelling to mention.
Thanks Aaman, very nice job
6 - Lisa McKay
Actually, Doc ought to go read the obit at the NY Times - it does indeed mention their long life together, as the Times always does when it writes about gay couples.
7 - Quack Corleone
Well written and a pleasure to read as always, Aaman.
8 - swingingpuss
Someone's sexuality does not define their life or death, nor their contributions to the world.
Back to the eulogy, these films were pure ivory and their beauty never diminishes.
9 - Aaman
From his statement on the controversy surrounding his recent, unfinished film "The Goddess", starring Tina Turner.
Various obits. One interesting quote: