Francesca Rudkin: The Return, Merchant Ivory

The Return  

After 20 years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king finds much has changed since he left to fight in the Trojan War. His beloved wife, Penelope, is a prisoner in her own home and hounded to choose a new husband. Their son faces death at the hands of suitors who see him as an obstacle in their pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember, but he must face his past to save his family.  

  

Merchant Ivory  

Archival footage and interviews provide insight into the partnership, both professional and personal, between director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks, it'd be do you have someone for
me to be one?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh? I got loads? Can you guess who it is?
Do do do? There's Carlie Minoak. She's back. Carlie's back. Uh, well,
she's been in the business again. People bug in for
a long long time now, but she's just got a
new album. That song is called someone for Me, kind
of catchy. Twenty four to ten on News Talks, it'd
be time to catch up with our film review of

(00:46):
Francesca Rudkin to get her picks for this weekend killed her?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
How many times she's back?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, she's never gone. Yeah, I wonder how many albums
she's done. I'm going to google that. I'm going to
see how many albums Kylie Minoak has done. But I
quite didn't mind that felt, you know, felt very on
brand for one a bit of a better term. She
sold eighty million records. Yeah that's a lot. That's a few, Yeah,

(01:17):
that is a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Anyway, she's well, here goes. She's been active since nineteen
seventy nine, so yeah, I think we probably should stop
saying she's back anyway. So we've got two different films
to talk about this morning. I'm going to start off
by having a little bit of a listen to our
first one. This is merchant Ivory. Merchant Ivory, it was

(01:39):
just a golden period.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
I mean, basically, they made the films they wanted to make.
It required an immense amount of stamina to work for
Merchant Ivery. At the end of every movie, everyone says,
never again.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Okay. So this is a documentary looking at the relationship
between the director, James Ivory and the produce Ishmael Merchant.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yes. And so this is Screening is part of the
British and Irish Film Festival and it is kicking off
on a twenty third of October. It's running to the
thirteenth of November. I love this festival because it really
does go across the country. It's going to be in
twenty cities. It's got about thirty cinema partners and they've
got a really great program this year. And this documentary

(02:28):
of Screening is part of the Film Festival, and it
takes a look at this film company that took art
house period drama and turned them into sort of mainstream
global hits and the company was founded in the sixties
by Ismael Merchant, who is mentioned as the producer, and
James Ivory who was the director writer, and they were
life and business partners from about nineteen sixty one through
to Merchant's death in two thousand and five. And they

(02:50):
also worked with Ruth chab Bucko, who was a who
scripted a lot of their films as well. In the
eighties they became very well nonmated a series of films
such as Quartete, Heat and Dust and The Bostonians. But
in nineteen eighty five they released A Room with a
View and many of our listeners will remember this film.
It kind of encapsulated what Merchant Ivory was all about.

(03:14):
They were renowned for creating films that resonated universally. They
had these lush settings, beautiful music, and these complex characters
and launched many careers and then often worked regularly with
the same cast films such as Morris Howard's End, Remains
of the Day, Jefferson and Paris Surviving Picasso, so that

(03:34):
all these films will ring about and they came from
this one production company. But the same about Merchant Ivory was,
even though they were hugely successful, the way that kind
of films were distributed and things. In those days, they
never had any money. So so Ishmael was a firecracker.
Everybody calls them sort of like lots of people, a

(03:55):
lot of famous names. In this film, they call him
a corn artist, and he was just he was a
night me to deal with. He never had enough money.
He never paid on time, he'd say. He sort of
said to one one costume designer, and I think that
there were four costumed four people working on costumes with
the room of the view, like hundreds and hundreds of thing.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
He said.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Afterwards, on the next film she worked on, he said, Ah,
I got you an oscar? Do I really need to
pay you? And she's like, yeah, you kind of do.
So there's all these fabulous stories and Hugh Grant talks
about it as being a wonderful time in filmmaking, and
he says, in those days, we fancied each other on seat,
you know, the sick crackled with subliminal lust. And nowadays
you go on seat, you go on seat and everyone's

(04:36):
just sitting there on their phones, not communicating. So lots
of wonderful stories about the background. So they just constantly
struggled to get these films up and running. And then
you had James who was just this gentle, quiet director
and people talk about he was just so calm. They
were just were They were just complete opposites who came
together to create some incredibly well known films. It's a
really delightful look at this production. I love the behind

(04:59):
the scenes part of the stories and this one's fabulous.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
That sounds great, Okay, So that is merchant ivory as
you say that, showing the British and Iri Film Festival.
Also showing at that festival is The.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Return, Yes, and this is this film reunites the English
Patient stars. Ralph finds Andreuette Binoche for the first time.
This is a new take on the Odyssey, but it
kind of starts after all the actions taken off and
it kind of picks up when our hero returns home
after being away for twenty years, and it's really the

(05:32):
story of him reuniting with his wife Penelope and finds
of Anosha. Both really remarkable. I mean, I can't take
my eyes off them when they're on the screen together.
But this adaptation, it's very stripped back. It's kind of
got a theatrical edge to it. It takes its time.
There is a lot of silence. This is very much
kind of an art house, you know, adaptation of this

(05:55):
story for a discerning film goer, but you know, it's
got these really interesting themes of virtue and violence and
the nature of man. Look for me, it was a
little sluggish, but I just love seeing these two on screen.
Is another film I would highly recommend, also in the
film festival. It's called Conclave and it's from the director
of All Quiet on the Western Front, and this is
getting huge reviews. There's quite a few films which are

(06:15):
coming straight from the Toronto Film Right Can Film Festival,
so this will be the first time we get to
see them, so definitely worth grabbing a program and checking
it out. British and Irish Film Festival dot co dot
film read very good.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Okay, hey did you see the film war Horse? Do
you remember Horse? Yeah? Yeah, I'm putting you on the spot.
Yeah yeah. So the well that the you know, the
author of that store. Did you ever read the book
as well?

Speaker 1 (06:44):
No idea?

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Oh no, no, no, no, no, tell.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Me the author's name, Michael Morpurgo.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yes, so we brought my children when they were younger.
All his books were the most amazing books to give
young readers. They are to kind of absorb big themes
in the world. I love his books.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
You've nailed it. You've given the exact answer that I
wanted you to give. So thank you very much for Yeah. Yeah,
he's with us after ten o'clock this morning. He's got
some really remarkable, like special new books, so he's going
to tell us about that after ten o'clock this morning.
And as Francisca says, this year's British and Irish Film
Festival has an incredible selection of films. So if you

(07:25):
go to a British Film Festival dot co do on
nz you will find your cup of tb at drama, comedy,
documentaries and more. It is screening nationwide from this Wednesday,
the twenty third of October through to the thirteenth of
November and we have double tickets to be won, so
in order to be in the draw, go and register
at Newstalk zb dot co dot nz ford slash win

(07:48):
and while you're on the news Talk ZBI website you'll
be able to find Francesca's recommendations those films. Merchant Ivory
was that first documentary and the second one is the return.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to Newstalks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow up
podcast on iHeartRadio