Les vestiges du jour

I can only repeat what most previous commentators have said. This is a beautiful film in every way.

Anthony Hopkins performance is awe-inspiring and difficult to describe. Stevens the butler never shows any emotion so his face is always suitably deadpan. The dialogue is spare. Then just how is it that we are able to follow the emotional undercurrents? Emma Thompson is also brilliant as the energetic housekeeper who does display and express her feelings without ever stating them directly. But all the actors are excellent, even in the most minor parts. Hugh Grant has a small part and plays it perfectly. Sadly his talent is too often misused and misapplied. James Fox was a revelation as prior to this I had only seen him in very light roles. Here he played an essentially decent man who is not too bright but has been born into wealth and influence. His sentiments and suggestibility lead him to misguided positions and tragedy.

Among the many great scenes there is a hilarious laugh-out-loud sequence with Hopkins and Grant.

I have seen "A Room With a View", another effort from the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabwala team. It is adapted from a lovely book but I disliked the film. I thought it failed to set the mood and put across the emotions. But in "The Remains of the Day" everything works. It is sad, actually heart-rending, but not gloomy. The period details are wonderfully executed and you are impressed by the order and efficiency in the running of the stately home. Everything in the film looks good- clean, bright and sharp. You are swept in at the beginning and stay rapt till the end. And the magic does not decrease with repeated viewing. I have seen it a number of times, it remains absorbing and fresh.

Anthony Hopkins as Mr. Stevens in The Remains of the Day made for truly excellent drama. His portrayal of the dedicated butler was picture perfect. He conveyed all the controlled subtleties of his character with great conviction. Stevens' dedication to his profession above all other considerations was both admirable and sad. All his interactions felt genuine and his personal journey was set wonderfully against the historical setting of World War II era Europe. Even the Nazi angle was considered with a more even hand than it is usually treated with. The practical considerations of the politicians of the time added a great sense of realism. The high profile supporting cast was also in top form though make no mistake this is Hopkins' film. Strongly recommended, 9/10.

In the WWII era, Mr Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) is a well experienced, dedicated butler who's loyal to his pro-Nazi master. He is always placid and graceful. Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) is a new housekeeper and her liveliness and wit somehow touches Mr Stevens' very soul. But he conceals his feeling towards her, and she can never unlock that closed door of his heart.

Mr Stevens looks back on all this while on a road trip for meeting Miss Kenton after twenty years. He now serves a new master, Lewis (Christopher Reeve) who was once one of the guests of his formal master back in the 1940s. On the way his memory slowly flows back to him (and he also realises that his formal master was not an impeccable man after all)...when Mr Stevens and Miss Kenton bid farewell again, she looks into his eyes while her tears roll down her cheeks...a very sad scene.

'The Remains of the Day' is about love that is never obtained...love that is never verbally expressed...love of which you finally has to let go...having read the book (which is finely written), I realise that this film is a wonderfully successful adaptation. Anyone who's into love stories should watch this.

You're a butler who is focused, dedicated, from your birth you've become trained, domesticated, you're at the peak of your profession, it's you're life's only obsession, you're a eunuch, but it's your soul that's been castrated. Miss Kenton joins the staff as the Housekeeper, she speaks her mind, pleasant you find, you choose to defer; events unfold, you remain cold, she crosses Mr. Benn's threshold, and then she leaves, while you remain, just as you were. Some years later correspondence warms an ember, an opportunity that you passed, as you remember, is it too late, for a courtship, arrange in haste a short visit, to save a candle that in truth, was never lit.

Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins are immense in a tale of guarded hearts and missed opportunities.

The crowning achievement of the Ismail Merchant/James Ivory partnership and their entire production team who give their absolute best in original music, cinematography, editing, art and set direction, costumes, and, of course, screenplay by Merchant/Ivory regular Ruth Prawler Jhabvala. Add flawless performances from the all-star cast and the result is almost too perfect. But there is just enough humility to this sad tale of unrequited love to make it completely believable.

Anthony Hopkins excels as the impenetrable Mr. Stevens, Butler of a lordly country house in the final days of the British Empire, and Emma Thompson is superb as his foil, Housekeeper Miss Kenton. Both give wonderfully deep, sensitive portrayals of two complex lonely people who don't realize, until it's too late, that they belong together. Swirling around them is fascinating drama of life upstairs and downstairs and there are as many surprises and sub-plots to the story (based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro) as there are secret passages, nooks, and crannies in "Darlington House."

An all-round first-rate cinematic experience, "Remains of the Day" is one of those pictures that lingers in the mind long after the credits pass. A must see. One poignant note: this was the return to the big screen of actor Christopher Reeve, as American millionaire Congressman Lewis, whose life nicely frames the storyline. Two years later Reeve became paralyzed after being thrown from a horse.