The Remains of the Day

 Year:  1993

Director:  James Ivory

Screenplay:  Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Harold Pinter (uncredited), based on the novel The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Starring:  Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Christopher Reeve, Peter Vaughan, Hugh Grant, Michael Lonsdale, Tim Pigott-Smith, Lena Headey

Running Time:  134 minutes

Genre:  Period drama

The late 1950s:  Stevens (Hopkins), the butler of the large English stately home Darlington Hall, looks back on twenty years of devoted service to the disgraced Lord Darlington (Fox) and, in particular, reflects on his relationship with housekeeper Miss Kenton (Thompson).

Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Merchant Ivory Productions (producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) were the undisputed champions of handsomely mounted, serious period dramas.  This faithful adaptation of the celebrated 1989 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro is one of their best known productions.  Unfolding mostly in flashback while Stevens takes a journey by car over several days to visit Miss Kenton, the film mostly takes place in the late 1930s.  Stevens is a man whose entire life is devoted to serving his master, and he is responsible for ensuring that everything in this world runs like clockwork, that everything is immaculate and in it's proper place.  He is also a tragic figure, deeply repressed and unable to open up about his true feelings.  It is never blatantly expressed, but pretty clear that Stevens is in love with Miss Kenton, and she seems to have feelings for him, but their relationship goes no further than her bringing him flowers for his little parlour, at no point in the film fro they even refer to each other by their given names.  Anthony Hopkins gives an immaculate performance as Stevens, in a very difficult role having to express a lot with very little.  He is very straightlaced,  very buttoned down, and expresses a lot with a look, or the flicker of an expression.  Emma Thompson is wonderful as the kindly Miss Kenton, who sometimes finds herself conflicted between her secure employment and her principles, and appears to harbour unspoken feelings for Stevens.  James Fox plays Stevens' employer Lord Darlington, who falls into disgrace due to his Nazi sympathies in the 1930s, although he is portrayed as more misguided and ignorant than being a true fascist.  Christopher Reeve, best known for Superman (1978) and it's three sequels, plays the new American owner of Darlington Hall in the 1950s.  Veteran actor Peter Vaughan, best known for the TV comedy seres Porridge (1974-1977), plays Stevens' father, also a butler at Darlington Hall.  There are also early appearances for Hugh Grant and Game of Thrones (2011-2019) star Lena Headey.  The film is about regret, change, loss and ageing. Late in the film Miss Kenton remarks that "for some people the evening is the best part of the day."  The "remains of the day" can also refer to the years left.  Stevens is left in the evening of his life with little left to show.

Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thomson in The Remains of the Day