There’s no other story like Merchant Ivory in the history of cinema and what a gift to be given an inside view of the Merchant Ivory world from James Ivory and the more than 50 collaborators I interviewed in New York, London, Paris, and Los Angeles, in making this documentary film. James Ivory is one of our greatest living directors and, at 95 years old, this Oscar-winner for the much-lauded Call Me by Your Name shows no sign of slowing down. He’s still working, having recently adapted a Ruth Jhabvala short story, The Judge’s Will, for director Alexander Payne and the French novel, The End of Eddy, slated to be a multi-episode miniseries. Once James Ivory, Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Jhabvala met, they were connected forever. Their work and personal lives entwined for over 45 years, and they became the most famous collaborative troika in film history. Merchant Ivory released 43 films. Many were fraught productions, often budget-related, and their last film, The City of Your Final Destination, brought the company to bankruptcy. A look at the comprehensive list of films that Merchant Ivory made, and the roster of talent they worked with, reveals that theirs was a spectacular achievement. The Merchant Ivory story, with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant at its centre, is about art, money, partnership, loyalty, dysfunction, love, jealousy, and eventually for Jim, the necessity to move forward and embark on a new chapter after Ismail’s passing.

Stephen Soucy