The Remains of the Day (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the film. For the novel on which the film was based, see The Remains of the Day.

The Remains of the Day
Movie poster
Directed by	James Ivory
Produced by	Ismail Merchant
Written by	Kazuo Ishiguro (novel) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Emma Thompson James Fox Christopher Reeve
Music by	Richard Robbins
Cinematography	Tony Pierce-Roberts
Editing by	Andrew Marcus
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	November 5, 1993
Running time	134 min
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Remains of the Day (1993) is a Merchant Ivory Film adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and starred Anthony Hopkins as Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, with James Fox, Christopher Reeve, Hugh Grant, and Ben Chaplin. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

1 Background and production notes
- 1.1 Settings
2 Synopsis
3 Cast in order in appearance
4 Awards
5 External links

[edit] Background and production notes

A film adaptation of the novel was originally to be directed by Mike Nichols, from a script by Harold Pinter. Nichols was ultimately one of the producers of the Merchant Ivory film.

[edit] Settings

A number of castles and country houses were used as locations for the film, partly owing to the persuasive power of Mr. Merchant, who was able to cajole permission for the production to borrow various houses not normally open to the public. Among them was Dyrham Park for the exterior of the house and Powderham Castle, the interior of which was used for the stairway scenes.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Mr. Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), is an emotionally repressed butler who works for Lord Darlington during the run-up to the Second World War. The story is told in flashback, in parallel with a journey he took 20 years later to visit the former housekeeper, Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), for the ostensible purpose of persuading her to return to service in the house.

It is in this later timeframe that the film opens, with an aerial view of Darlington Hall, a stately manor set in rolling English Countryside. Miss Kenton, in voiceover, reads out a letter to Mr. Stevens, in which she gives her reaction to the news of the sale of the house to Mr. Lewis (Christopher Reeve), a retired Congressman, after the death of Lord Darlington (James Fox). These two individuals represent old and new world orders respectively. Kenton also talks about herself. Her marriage has failed and she is nostalgic for the good old days when she worked at the house.

Inside, Mr. Lewis has taken up residence, but things are only just being put back into order in preparation for the arrival of Mrs. Lewis (who is never shown). Stevens reminds his new master of a leave of absence he had previously requested. Lewis readily agrees, and even offers Stevens the use of a car. As Stevens walks through the house, he sees various members of staff going about their business. But each fades away like a ghost, revealing that they are but memories of former times, and the house is now largely empty. Stevens takes the car, and begins his journey to visit Miss Kenton.

The film flashes back to when Kenton first joins the staff as housekeeper. Their lives are depicted in a series of vignettes, each of which reveals a little about the characters' personalities and the developing relationship between them, which takes place against the backdrop of the meetings between the Great and the Good, and the mighty Affairs of State decided under the eaves of Darlington Hall in the run-up to the War. Stevens's defining characteristics are his emotional repression, his perfectionist devotion to his work, and his loyalty to his master. Despite the day-to-day domestic crises he must manage so as render them invisible to his Lordship and esteemed guests, he is always calm, always efficient, always busy, but never hurried, never rude. The only emotions he displays are his understated irritation at Miss Kenton over the early conflicts between them, and later, when relations between them had warmed, he smiles equally understatedly at her playful suggestion that he finds one of the serving girls attractive, though it is ambiguous whether the smile was one of embarrassment because the suggestion was true, or, as he claims, one of amusement at her "nonsense". He shows no emotion when humiliated by one of Darlington's guests, and when his father dies, he carries on serving, remarking only that it's "what he would have wanted". Even when Miss Kenton is sobbing in response to his emotional coldness, the only response he is able to muster is to refer to some domestic task or other which needs her attention.

Kenton is equally efficient at her work, but altogether warmer and less repressed, as strong-willed as Stevens, but more independent-minded. She is initially upset at his insistence that she not refer to his elderly father by his Christian name, even though this is the correct protocol for her because of his lower position of the staff. Later she confronts Stevens who is in denial about his father's increasing forgetfulness. She prevails in a disagreement with him over a prospective employee, and when, at Lord Darlington's command, two German-Jewish servant girls are to be dismissed, she is outraged, pointing out that the likely consequence is that they would be sent back to Germany, and threatens to resign in protest (a threat she later admits to being too cowardly to carry out). She does not accept Stevens's response that his Lordship knows best. As their relationship warms, it becomes clear that she has fallen in love with him, and maybe he with her, though this is ambiguous, as his reserve will not permit him to show it. Nor does the rigid protocol between them properly permit her to express her love toward him. Despite all, she mounts a determined but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to get under his skin. Finally she strikes up a relationship with another man, whom she eventually decides to marry and she leaves the house on the eve of the Second World War.

Lord Darlington is a Nazi sympathiser, who uses his influence to broker the political arrangements now called "appeasement". But it is not clear to what extent he supports the Nazis' true agenda, or how much he is deceived by them. He irritates the then Congressman Lewis, one of the dignitaries at a conference, who argues in favour of the Realpolitik of professionals, rather than that of "honourable amateurs". Darlington is quite regretful about dismissing the two Jewish servant girls, but considers their continued employment inappropriate. Later he expresses his remorse at this, and asks what happened to them. Miss Kenton replies that she tried to place them at another house, but was unsuccessful and does not know what became of them.

In the "present" of the film, depicted in parallel, but set twenty years after in the late fifties, it is revealed that Darlington died a broken man, his reputation destroyed after his role in the appeasement had been exposed in the papers. When the subject comes up in conversation with various people he meets during his journey, Stevens admits to being the butler at Darlington Hall, but initially denies having served or even met Darlington. It is clear now that he recognises his former master's failings, and several times he indicates that he has regrets about his own life, as does Miss Kenton (now Mrs. Benn) when they finally meet. Kenton declines his offer to return to Darlington Hall, announcing instead that she wanted to stay with her husband and to be near to her soon-to-be-born grandchild. At the end of his visit Stevens departs for Darlington hall in a downpour of rain. Kenton cries, while Stevens, still unable to show any emotion or feeling toward her, simply raises his hat.