Ismail Merchant, who, with his partner James Ivory became linked in the modern mind with the novelist E.M. Forster for their adaptions of "Howard's End" and "A Room With A View" has died.
Merchant, who was born in Bombay but spent most of his life in the West, had been unwell for some time and recently underwent surgery for abdominal ulcers, according to Indian television reports.
Merchant and Ivory, an American, made some 40 films together and won six Oscars four for best picture since forming their famous partnership in 1961 with German-born screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Some have criticized Merchant-Ivory for making pretty pictures in which little happens. Yet, they were among the most faithful adapters of great novels and displayed a sensibility that I almost universally found comforting, uplifting and poignant.
The films that Merchant made were always respectful to the author, a feature no doubt of the consummate abilities of Jhabvala. There was a time when I would put "Room" on the VCR (remember those) just for company. It was as if this trio lead me to a world that I wished for and sincerely searched.
They have inspired many good filmmakers, of course. Whether he knows it or not, Anthony Minghella owes his pedigree to Merchant-Ivory.
Rarely has there been a team of talented individuals so closely associated and so in tune with each other. And rarer yet has there been a group of popular artists that so imbued their work with such longing and possibility.
Merchant was 68. Too young.
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