A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
When you stick closely to a proven recipe, chances that the resulting dish will be inedible are slim. That said, the chances are equally low that it will be surprising. The analogy works exceptionally well with James Ivory’s classic 1993 adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s masterpiece “The Remains of the Day.” All the ingredients are there: a stalwart, award-winning director; an incredible cast (Anthony Hopkins! Emma Thompson! Hugh Grant! Christopher Reeve!); a source novel begging to be visualized. The result is sumptuous, mature filmmaking of the highest order. It may not be original — we’ve all had this dish before and since — and yet this is one of the best of its ilk.
The plot is one of those stories that are simple on the surface but dive beneath it, and tumultuous currents will swiftly carry you away. Hopkins plays Stevens, a butler whose loyalty to Lord Darlington (James Fox) is unmatched. In fact, Stevens’s profession forms his identity entirely. He’s even willing to disregard Darlington’s apparent affinity towards Nazis or the new housekeeper Miss Kenton’s (Thompson) advances.
This unconventional love triangle dissipates when Kenton departs to marry her former co-worker. Instead of stopping her, Stevens does what Stevens does best: tidy up. They do reunite years later — the home now owned by US Congressman Jack Lewis (Reeve) to reminisce upon their pasts and what could have been. It all ends on a bittersweet note.
Most of the period drama connotations are present: polished, somewhat highfalutin dialogue (“I am placing my thoughts elsewhere while you chatter away”); subtle performances; simmering tension; lavish sets, and, well, general lavishness. The space between words, the things left unsaid, the pain behind the smile, and how a pigeon flies off into the air leave the most resonant mark. Hopkins, per usual, is fabulous, showcasing simmering resentment, affection, and longing with typical aplomb. Thompson, of course, is equally marvelous, sensual, sharp, and distraught.
From cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts’ incredible painterly cinematography to composer Richard Robbins’ emotional but not emotionally-manipulative soundtrack, the film nails the essence of Ishiguro’s novel. It proceeded to receive eight Academy Award nominations deservedly. No one did “period” better than James Ivory, and “The Remains of the Day” remains one of his top achievements.
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