Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, this Merchant-Ivory production strains so hard to portray dignified restraint that it almost seizes up with good manners.
Ms. Jhabvala said she wrote her first screenplay "as blindly as I went to India, " but her collaboration with Merchant-Ivory went on to produce more than 20 films, including "Shakespeare-Wallah" (1965), "The Bostonians" (1984) and "The Remains of the Day" (1993).
"Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant, " said the company's director of development, Neil Jesuele.