1995 should have been a banner year for the gay independent filmmaker team of Merchant-Ivory. They were at the height of their creative powers. Critically acclaimed hits such as 1990's "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" (an Oscar nomination for star Joanne Woodward) and now-recognized classics such as their 1992 version of E.M. Forster's "Howard's End" (nine Oscar nominations) and Kazuo Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day" (eight Oscar nominations, 1993) cemented their Hollywood status. Much was expected from their next film, "Jefferson in Paris" starring Nick Nolte, but it was both commercially and critically unsuccessful. Just released for the first time on Blu-Ray by Kino Lorber, the movie can now be reevaluated in time for its 25th anniversary.
Unlike most Merchant-Ivory movies, "Jefferson" isn't based on a book, but on novelist-screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas research, which might account for the criticism that it lacked cohesion. It's set in Paris from 1784-89. The recently widowed, lonely Thomas Jefferson was appointed ambassador to France, succeeding the popular Benjamin Franklin, in the court of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, right before the upheavals of the French Revolution. Accompanied by his adult, possessive daughter Patsy (Gwyneth Paltrow in an early role), he develops a close friendship with the attractive Maria Cosway (Greta Scacchi), a musician married to the flamboyant homosexual painter Richard Cosway (fabulous gay Simon Callow). Jefferson's younger daughter Polly dies in the U.S. When Patsy returns after the funeral, she's accompanied by their 15-year-old mulatto slave Sally Hemings (Thandie Newton), his late wife's half-sister. Her older enslaved brother James (Seth Gilliam), already in Paris, was studying French cuisine, so he could return to Monticello as Jefferson's chef. Slavery now outlawed in France, James had asked for and received a salary from Jefferson. Jefferson becomes enamored of Sally, and impregnates her. The lovesick Maria, warned by Patsy (who resents Sally), retreats. Offered Secretary of State by the new President Washington, Jefferson returns to the U.S., promising Sally and James if they go back with him, he will give them their freedom once he dies. What will they do?
When this film was made, Jefferson's affair with Hemings was gossip, vigorously debated by historians. It wasn't until 2018, after a 1998 DNA test established a match between Jefferson's descendants and the descendants of Heming's son Eston, and archaeological excavations showed Sally Hemings' quarters directly adjacent to Jefferson's bedroom, that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation concluded that the Jefferson/Hemings dalliance was "a settled historical matter."
Another chief criticism was that there were four storylines (Jefferson's romance with Cosway; his interactions with the jealous Patsy as his "surrogate" wife; his response to the emerging French Revolution; and his relationship with Hemings) competing with each other. But these are all a subset of the principal theme of the movie announced in the opening scene. Jefferson debates with a group of French aristocrats the merits of intellect over passion, quoting from his later famous "My Head and My Heart" love letter to Cosway. Emotional repression masking passion is a central Merchant/Ivory film topic, and it's enveloped in another favorite Merchant/Ivory obsession, cultural clash and displacement (America vs. France), with Jefferson's effrontery over the decadence, "monstrous privilege," and extravagant diversions of Louis XVI's court as the country ebbs closer to anarchy.
Ironically, Jefferson's "All men are equal" phrase in the Declaration of Independence as the champion of liberty is the underlying cause of the chaos in the streets, but it is also the paradoxical hypocrisy in Jefferson himself, proclaiming egalitarianism yet owning slaves. The film isn't intended primarily to be a commentary on race relations, but a portrait of the complex personal conflicts and contradictions that defined his character. Since the duality between Jefferson's ideals and his actions, just like the collision between his intellect and emotions, were never resolved in his life, they aren't resolved in the film.
Many have faulted Nolte's performance, but the remote, stiff paternalism he projects probably is an accurate reflection of Jefferson's inner state. Ivory originally wanted Christopher Reeves (pre-quadriplegia), who would probably have been ideal, yet was unavailable. The tall, lean, blond Nolte looks like Jefferson, and brings a vigorous masculine presence plus Renaissance-man charm to the role. But the real star is the captivating Thandie Newton as the mischievous Sally, who enlivens the film, contrasting with Scacchi's flighty, pretentious Maria, where few erotic sparks are lit. All these characterizations are deliberate, as Jefferson's vitality and nobility only surface when Sally emerges.
As always in Merchant-Ivory films, the elegant historical pageantry is spot-on, with flawless period costumes, hair styling, production design, cinematography, and music, making you believe you're experiencing 18th century Paris in revolt. Hollywood simply doesn't produce these expensive historical dramas anymore, so we can be grateful the movie exists at all.