Merchant Ivory is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. Footage from more than fifty interviews, clips, and archival material gives voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence. With six Oscar winners among the notable artists participating, these close and often long-term collaborators intimately detail the transformational cinematic creativity and personal and professional drama of the wandering company that left an indelible impact on film culture.

The Garden Cinema View:

One for fans of Merchant Ivory films, as well as filmmakers. The film provides great insight into the joys and sorrows of the director/writer creative collaboration: the crises, the financial pressures, and those moments when masterpieces almost didn't happen. It shows how Ismail Merchant's and James Ivory's commitment to artistic integrity was simultaneously a source of anxiety and elation, often pursued at significant personal and professional costs. Importantly, the narrative also restores the memory of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala—the brilliant, oft-overlooked screenwriter of 16 feature films whose quiet genius was the engine behind the successful partnership.

The documentary, featuring such talking heads as Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant, offers a sensitive portrayal of their personal lives, touching on the dynamics of their romantic relationship at a time when same-sex attraction was still quite taboo.