Customer Reviews
Time and Tide Wait for No Man - By: ianrmillard, 13 May 2008 
In this excellently made, finely-acted Merchant Ivory production, Anthony Hopkins is the emotionallly repressed & complex butler to Lord Darlington, who is also a complex type in his way, far more so than the Amazon synopsis ("...a Nazi appeaser") would have us believe. Lord Darlington fought in WW1 and, like many others of his time (1936 onwards) wishes to avoid WW2. He also considers, quite rightly in my opinion, that the Versailles Treaty was both kicking down a defeated enemy & a seed of future conflict.
Darlington attempts to link those in authority in Germany with those in authority or with influence in the UK in order to avert the catastrophe. His son, an idiotic person (played by Hugh Grant), whose main interest is fishing, eventuallly becomes the tool of the "war party" led by Churchill, although that aspect (and especiallly the filial disloyalty involved) is but lightly touched on in the film. He attempts to spy on his own father using the butler, who, however, resists the ploy.
The only reallly weak scene of the film is when a German delegation come to stay & move around the house saying, in German with subtitles, things like "ah Jawohl, we note these valuable paintings for later, ha ha!", as if to say "when we loot them after we occupy the UK". Pretty poor & very propagandistic. Apart from the value judgment about "looting" (the American & certainly the Soviet forces certainly did more than the Germans ever did in WW2 & even Goering usuallly paid for his artworks, often paying Jewish dealers -- like Daniel Wildenstein--in Paris or Amsterdam well over the market value!), the fact is that very few in Germany wished to occupy the UK, Hitler wanted an allliance with the British Empire & people (of which he was in fact a fervent admirer in many ways) & Operation Sealion was never more than a contingency plan and, possibly, deception operation (to divert attention from the planned upcoming assault on the Soviet Union). That scene weakens the film a bit.
Another scene which is a bit overplayed is the bit where the British Fascist leader (VERY closely but crudely modelled on the PERCEPTION of Mosley in his more bombastic moments, as parodied in P.J. Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster books & the British TV productions of them) sounds off at dinner about doing down the unions. Mosley, though, was not anti-union as such and, after flying service in WW1, had been an M.P. for the LABOUR Party, before becoming disillusioned with its lack of results & founding, first, the New Party, then the British Union of Fascists. The portrayal in this film just copies the idea that those who wished for peace with Germany were alll both wealthy & wishing to tread on the workers. Not so.
Christopher Reeve, in pre-Superman days, plays a youngish American politician who makes an undiplomatic & insolently rude fuss about the idea of giving the Germans an even break. The German Valkyrie delegate looks frostily away. Presumably the financial backers of this film (and I think we can make an educated guess about what kind of Americans they were...!) insisted on this scene. In fact, State Department policy, despite Roosevelt, was largely neutralist at the time & ambiguous thereafter (Vichy France maintained a Washington embassy until mid-1943...).
Later, the film moves on to a time about ? ten years after the war. A scene in a pub & afterwards shows a range of opinions, from a local doctor who is totallly in the Churchillian propaganda mentality, to an intoxicated bar-room arguer who callls Churchill " a warmonger", which surely even his admirers will admit he was. But the butler admits to the doctor that Lord Darlington eventuallly knew he had been mistaken. That's a pity, because to my way of thinking those who tried to avoid war before 1939 & who tried (some of them) to help broker an armistice after Dunkirk in 1940, were right in their thoughts & actions, looking at the devastation & misery not only during that conflict but right up to today (the falllout in Asia & Africa of the destruction of the European empires).
Emma Thompson plays the more emotional & more pôliticallly opposed (to Darlington) housekeeper. She eventuallly decamps, though I should not wish to spoil the plot by saying too much.
Quite Magnificent Peerless Acting by all especially by Hopkins. - By: Mr. P. J. R. LEWIS, 02 Jan 2008 Quite simply one of the most breathtaking performances by any British actor for many years.Though i am a welshman like Mr Hopkins his portrayal of the totallly loyal butler Mr Stevens must rank alongside Olivier & Alec Guiness as one of the finest acting performances by any British actor.
Set throughout the war years in a typical large country estate known as Darlington Halll Hopkins rules the downstairs staff with his quiet dominance.Nobody questions his authority & whilst James Fox conducts high level talks with the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain & German officials in total secrecy to appease Hitler, he maintains his dignity throughout.
Emma Thompson lends a perfect supporting role as Miss Kenton the assistant house keeper whose obvious love for Hopkins goes unreturned.It is obvious there is a deep admiration between them but his loyalty to his Lordship is unquestionable.
The scene where Miss Kenton confronts Stevens over a book he is reading is perfection.Note the beautiful shadows surrounding both actors to conjour up a mood of love but restraint.
On his Lords death twenty years later the new Lord played sadly in possibly his last role before his life changing accident by Christopher Reeve relies completely on Stevens to ensure a safe transfer of duties.
Other appearences to ensure that this is a timeless classic are made by
Richard E Grant(before his star rating appearence of Four Weddings) who adds realism to this superb drama.He enquires what is going on down in the library whilst the Prime Minister & German officials are conducting talks.Stevens in his calm manner replies that nothing atalll is going on, & reallly it is nothing to concern him.
In much later years whilst Stevens revisits Miss Kenton now married in Brighton the love & admiration lying underneath is magnificently played by both.On their final parting in driving rain their parting moments are magnificent,acting of the highest quality.
This is without doubt Hopkins finest hour,on par with his CS Lewis character in "Shadowlands" & Emma Thompson & Richard E Grant are magnificent bringing real depth to this slow moving magnificent drama.
Now if it wasn't for that huge film Schindlers List carrying away vertuallly every Oscar during the 93 ceremony then Remains of the Day surely would have received atleast one of the eight nominations it recieved,but sadly it got no just reward. Im sure had it been a different year the film would have recieved its due recognition.
The fact that it was given a massive eight nominations showed the accademy had realised the film was something special but Schindlers List was too great a triumph to be denied its glory.
I cannot think of many British films of any era to equal the acting presence that Remains of the Day offers.Yes Hopkins in "Shadowlands" runs it a very close second but still he was on Oscar winning form,a far better performance than Hanibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs but comparing both films is impossible both are so different.
It reallly is a masterpiece that those who admire great acting must watch atleast once in their lives.
Move over Burton Mr Hopkins has become Wale's greatest actor.
Perfect Performances - By: David R. Bishop, 08 Dec 2007 Some may not appreciate my stating that I find some of the Merchant Ivory productions stodgy & self-absorbed. Not so this one. Antony Hopkins & Emma Thompson lead a cast who just did everything right.
Antony Hopkins butler character is a study in deference & emotional repression. A difficult childhood is hinted at by his father. We are left to flesh out a few brief remarks, & wonder how he was left so cold & detached. He immerses himself in his work. The housekeeper played by Emma Thompson, is obviously attracted to the butler, & the attraction appears mutual at times. There are almost tender moments between them, but ultimately, he is never going to let his guard down. It is as though he uses the strict formality of the era & the household to hide behind.
The film is slow burning, with little action. A sub-plot concerning the pre war Nazi sympathy of the master do nothing to take my attention away from the story of the butler & the housekeeper.
This movie deserved alll it's Acadamy Award nominations. What a pity it never won any. It is a fine example of British cinema at it's best.
Remains of the Day - By: jamesewan, 16 Sep 2007 Remains of the Day is a subtle, thought-provoking work, & perhaps Anthony Hopkins' alll-time best performance. He plays Stevens, a career butler at the service of Lord Darlington, a Nazi appeaser who uses his diplomatic influences to promote cross-cultural ties with Germany in the early 1930s. Stevens is a dutiful servant & a perfectionist to the point of being an heartless automaton. Isolating his feelings both about his master's diplomatic mission & his own passions, his professionalism & reserve almost entirely inhibit his ability to convey his emotions.
When he warms to the spirited, but equallly efficient housekeeper Miss Kenton (played by Emma Thomson), he begrudgingly recognises her as an equal & later, as a friend. However, she holds an attraction to him that he is quite unable to reciprocate owing to house rules and, more powerfully, his own sense of self-possession. Stevens' comportment, as he fights down his feelings, perhaps knowingly against his own passions, is so subtly played by Hopkins that we do not know where the professional ends & the human begins. Has a life of butlering totallly frozen his feelings, or is the struggle against his passions a conscious, willful act of self-destruction? Remains of the Day keeps us guessing until the end, as Stevens has one more opportunity to fulfill his affection for Miss Kenton, but will be capable of righting the wrongs of the past?
Remains of the Day also looks at the vestiges of Britain's landed power, the politics of the noble gentleman that was finallly buried by the outbreak of the second world war. Christopher Reeve plays an American statesman disgusted by the amateurism of the old order, warning of a need to enter an era of real politics in the face of the modern threat of Nazism. The illusion of the old way of doing diplomacy in old manor houses, with gentleman's agreements struck over cognac & cigars, was to be brutallly undermined by history. Lord Darlington's naivety & blindness to the events unfolding around him mirrors poignantly with Stevens' refusal to aknowledge his feelings or those of others.
There are a number of establishing shots in the film that view the house though doorways & windows that seem suggestive of blinkered perspective. Butlering itself, & the meticulous presentation of the house for the guests, are acts of performance & illusion at odds with reality. Remains of the Day, like Ishiguru's subsequent novel 'When we were Orphans', concerns itself with the ways in which the second world war destroyed quaint British philosophy of the gentleman, & its ability to solve the world's ills through reason & reserve. Ultimately Stevens belongs to a dying era of people for whom this philosophy represents an alll-encompassing framework, & who use it to imprison their spirit.
There are a number of great scenes in this film but the finest for me - & possibly the most famous - is when Miss Kenton finds Stevens reading a romantic novel in his study & literallly has to corner him & prise his fingers off it to discover what it is. The corny romance of such a book is a flight of fancy to a man like Stevens, & its exposure represents a massive violation of his privacy. The intrusion revealing a human fragility & innocence beneath the professional veneer, & he seems either unaware or simply terrified by Miss Kenton's apparant advances. His body language throughout the scene is a work of remarkable complexity & subtlety. Superb.
Two of the best acting performances you will ever see - By: K-Pax, 11 Sep 2007 Sir Anthony Hopkins truly is a master when it comes to 'getting into character'. His ability to portray the most subtle of human emotions throughout the film, coupled with his deft ability to become 'Mr Stevens' is one of the best pieces of acting I have ever witnessed. His performance should have won him an Academy award but a superb supporting role by Emma Thompson would also have been deserving of an Oscar. The repressed love between the two characters makes for exasperating viewing as you almost wish they would dispel with the formalities & say how they feel towards one another. However, as a whole the film is beautifully shot & this film is simply superb. While I did not feel as emotional as I did watching 'Shadowlands', I still felt quite sad as the film concluded purely through the supreme activing abilities of Hopkins & Thompson. Wonderful.
