The last Merchant-Ivory collaboration is set in Shanghai, 1936, in the months before the Japanese invaded. A down-on-her-luck White Russion countess has been reduced to menial labour to support herself and her family. She meets a recently-blinded ex-diplomat, who has a grand scheme to open a nightclub, with her as the 'centrepiece'. As time goes by, they grow closer, but so too does the Japanese army... Foreign reviewers were generally disappointed with this final Merchant-Ivory production.

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