By Joe Valdez 
At Darlington Hall, a mansion in the English countryside, an American millionaire (Christopher Reeve) acquires the estate and its artifacts at auction. This includes a head butler, the aging James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), who presides nobly over a staff that is a shadow of what it was before World War II. Stevens’ new employer gives him a week off to “see the world”. The butler reveals that he intends to drive to Clevedon, to meet an old acquaintance who may be interested in returning to Darlington Hall as housekeeper.
Moving back in time twenty years – when the estate is inhabited by the Lord Darlington (James Fox) – Stevens meets Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) when she arrives to interview for a position of housekeeper. For the job of under butler, Stevens hires his own father, William (Peter Vaughan) who has 54 years of loyal servitude. Miss Kenton observes that William has been entrusted with more tasks than he can manage. Stevens brushes her concerns aside, until William suffers a fall and his son has to demote him.
Lord Darlington is committed to offering a helping hand to Nazi Germany and hosts an international conference to push this agenda. Stevens believes that a good butler should be invisible and is not drawn into voicing any political beliefs he might have. Stevens also refuses to express his personal feelings for Miss Kenton. When Darlington dismisses two servant girls he learns are Jewish, she threatens to resign. Twenty years later, Stevens reunites with Miss Kenton and has one last chance to tell her how he feels.
The Remains of the Day was a 1989 novel by Japanese born British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It won England’s top literary award, the Booker McConnell Prize. Esteemed playwright Harold Pinter read the book while it was still in galleys and liked it so much that he optioned the film rights. Once the book became a bestseller, Pinter was inundated with offers to make a movie. The first person to approach him that he was interested in working with was director Mike Nichols.
During this time, James Ivory was shooting Mr. and Mrs. Bridge in Kansas City. One of his cast members - Remak Ramsay – was reading The Remains of the Day and gave the director a copy. Ivory felt it would make a terrific film; the intrigue of an English countryhouse just before the outbreak of World War II – seen from the point of view of a butler – appealed to him. Ivory’s agent notified him that Columbia Pictures wanted Mike Nichols to direct. Ivory kept track of the project’s progress anyway.
Nichols envisioned Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep in the lead roles. He later approached Anthony Hopkins for the role of Stevens, but Nichols decided he wasn’t comfortable directing a film that was so English. Nichols and producer John Calley turned to Ivory and his producing partner Ismail Merchant, who were finishing what shaped up to be the biggest success of their career, Howard’s End. Merchant/Ivory reunited Hopkins with Emma Thompson and tasked Ruth Prawer Jhabvala to rewrite Pinter’s script.
Filming commenced quickly in the fall of 1992. Shot completely on location, five separate mansions stood in for Darlington Hall. Merchant/Ivory intended to award Harold Pinter credit for co-writing the script, but Pinter refused, citing a clause in his contract that permitted him to remove his name from a project which was revised without his approval. The Remains of the Day went on to be nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Writing.
Few movies teem with as many riches as those found in The Remains of the Day, which among romances set in England’s pastoral past, may be the finest ever made. The source material works beautifully on so many levels; as a portrait of a man’s wasted life, a document of England pre-World War II, a social examination of a vanished servant class, an architectural study of a great house, and the architecture of a man and a woman whose environment keeps them from confiding their feelings.
In addition to Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson – who bring such an underplayed dignity to their roles – this was the last strong performance by Christopher Reeve. Seeing him so vibrant here is almost beyond words. Hugh Grant and Ben Chaplin appear as well, while the cinematography by Tony Pierce-Roberts, production design by Luciana Arrighi and the musical score by Richard Robbins lend the film an acuity that never ceases to mesmerize me.
Barrie Maxwell at DVD Verdict writes, “This is one of the top films of the last two decades. Dramatically powerful yet putting a smile on our lips from time to time, it features a top-notch cast in a picture with sparkling production values. Columbia has done full justice to it with a packed DVD Special Edition that looks and sounds great. Highly recommended,”
“The Remains of the Day is an engaging and powerful motion picture, every bit the equal of Merchant Ivory’s best work, and certainly the most emotionally-wrenching tale they have brought to the screen. Tragic love stories often hit with the hardest impact, and few are better-crafted and more intelligently presented than that of Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton,” writes James Berardinelli at reelviews.
Danel Griffin at Film as Art writes, “Here is one of the bleakest pictures ever made of a lonely man who has realized too late the opportunities that he has missed. In a way, Stevens is Travis Bickle’s alter ego—he is dignified, well-manicured, and passive—but The Remains of the Day ultimately makes the same point as Taxi Driver: Some men are islands, and the reasons why are inexplicable, and the cure is non-existent.”
“The Chinaman from the cabinet room is now outside this door. Come and see for yourself.” View a beautifully tense scene between Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins from The Remains of the Day, underlined with a beguiling musical score by Richard Robbins.
