Always a Refugee

New York: Merchant-Ivory Productions, Inc., [1980]. 290 by 230mm (11½ by 9 inches). Black titled continuous vinyl wrapper by Studio Duplication Service, Inc. Title page present, undated. 101 leaves, with last page of text numbered 100. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. In English. Pages Near Fine; wrapper Near Fine with lightest wear to edges, bound with two brass brads. Pagination: [title], 100.
Together with original large ​“half-subway” horizontal poster (39 ½ by 30 inches) illustrated in color. Poster with some creasing, soiling to verso and two ink marks to verso.

Original screenplay and theatrical release poster for industry titan James Ivory’s 1981 French-British adaptation of Jean Rhys’s 1928 novel. Adapted by novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The film follows a love quadrangle (based on Rhys’s real-life affair with Ford Madox Ford) against the backdrop of a depraved 1920’s pre-depression Paris.

Awards: Isabelle Adjani, Best Actress at Cannes. The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or and received acclaim for the faithfulness of its adaptation.

Shot on location in Paris, October-December 1980.

EXILE: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927–2013) was born in Cologne to Jewish parents. Her father was accused of communist links and arrested. As a young girl she witnessed the destruction and violence of the 1938 Kristallnacht. The family was among the last refugees to flee the Nazi régime in 1939, emigrating to Britain. Jhabvala remarked ​“Once a refugee, always a refugee.” And in a 1979 speech entitled ​“Disinheritance” she described herself as a ​“cuckoo forever insinuating myself into others’ nests”, a ​“chameleon hiding myself in false or borrowed colors”.

At the time of cataloguing, no other copies for sale. Per OCLC, this 100-page script only at NYPL. OCLC shows a 94-page shooting script at the Morgan and a 70-page copy at the Academy. AMPAS lists holdings at the Academy and AFI. There is also a French 50-page script that is held at four French institutions.