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The Remains of the Day [Region 2] | ![The Remains of the Day [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/219G26SMFML._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: James Ivory
Actors: John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Caroline Hunt
Category: DVD
Buy New: $22.98
New (1) Used (1) from $22.97
Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 188060
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Portuguese (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Czech (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled), Turkish (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Arabic (Subtitled), Bulgarian (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Icelandic (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled), Hebrew (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 4030521196650
ASIN: B00005NVN8
Theatrical Release Date: November 5, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
This excellent film is probably best described as subtle elegance. Framed in the present, the movie deals with the lives inside an English country home just prior to World War II. Reunited with the filmmakers from Howards End are Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, the head housekeeper, and Anthony Hopkins as Stevens, the impeccable butler. The bittersweet story centers on Stevens and his dedication to his master, Lord Darlington (a suitably officious and slyly pompous James Fox). Stevens summarizes: "I don't believe a man can consider himself fully content until he has done all he can to be of service to his employer." Enveloping Stevens's world are the pending war with Germany, Darlington's horribly misguided interests in said war, and, most effectively, his relationship with Miss Kenton. Stevens is the very essence of repression, but as played by Hopkins he is neither piteous nor self-righteous. Like his master, Stevens becomes misguided in his loyalties, although his is an emotional deprivation, possibly condemning him to lifelong regret. There's so much going on in this film, and yet the action is skillfully depicted through understanding and knowing glances, through emotions expressed only through eye contact. Like other Merchant-Ivory-Ruth Prawer Jhabvala collaborations, this film is sumptuous to look at, capturing the period effectively and affectingly. Jhabvala respectfully adapts from the Kazuo Ishiguro novel. Excellent in supporting roles are Christopher Reeve, Ben Chaplin, and Hugh Grant. --N.F. Mendoza
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| Customer Reviews: Read 115 more reviews...
 Remains of the Day April 3, 2009
L. McClellan
Very wonderful story with great acting by Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
A Class Act February 16, 2009
TXBulldog (Dallas,TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. That alone should clue you in to the type of production you are about to view. The acting between the two is simply exquisite. I do believe that this is Mr. Hopkins finest performance. It seems effortless on his part. The sign of a truly great artist. Ms. Thompson too is one of our best. Christopher Reeve before his devastating accident looks dashing and handsome like Prince Charming. The scenes between Mr Hopkins and his father will break your heart. This is one of the best films I have ever experienced.
sublime and worth every minute January 11, 2009
Ivan Womboldt (Palm Springs, CA)
This is Merchant Ivory at its best. This taught tense film is filled with moments of such intimate despair and weave history and the Neville Chamberlin Apeasment approach into it answers or at least its telling of the story.
Repression and lack of awareness eventually have a price November 12, 2008
C. B Collins Jr. (Atlanta, GA United States)
The beauty of Remains of the Day can not be overstated. The photography and art direction were superb in every way. The camera is usually at eye level in most shots, giving the film some intimacy within a great beautiful country home.
The film is based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, a talented master of the understated and unsaid. Anthony Hopkins plays his best role in this film because so much of the acting depends on what is controlled and not said, yet conveyed through subtle movements of the eye or shoulders or head. Hopkins plays Mr. Stevens, the head butler of a large wealthy country estate in rural England. He is the model of organization and forethought. Yet in this job he is so focused on this duty that he ignores the forces around him that call him into participation in the human experience. Notice Mr. Steven's reactions when he hears of the death of his father. Notice Mr. Steven's reactions when an upper class diplomat asks him esoteric foreign policy questions to demonstrate that the lower classes do not understand diplomacy. A third amazing example of perfectly controlled acting is when Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, tells Mr. Stevens that she and her new boyfriend make jokes about how he sprinkles pepper on his food. In all these examples Hopkins shows us how deeply repressed emotion still reveals itself even when no overt emotion is demonstrated.
Into this world of rigid control, his employer hires a new housekeeper, Miss Kenton, played to perfection by Emma Thompson. The film is a rare treat in that two of the most talented artists of the acting arts are paired together in a range of situations and emotional responses. Miss Kenton and Mr. Stevens have a range of struggles and power fights as they get to know each other, but eventually they warm to each other and Miss Kenton begins to try to break the icy veneer of professionalism and emotional distance that cover Mr. Stevens. She tries but his reluctance to engage at an intimate and emotional level stop the relationship/friendship from growing or moving forward. In contrast to the slow moving sterile relationship of Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton, Charlie the head footman, and Abigail, a housemaid, have fallen passionately in love with each other and plan to marry even though they have no resources or prospects other than their love. Emma Thompson tries to council Abigail but realizes that in some ways Abigail and Charlie are right. Charlie is well played by Ben Chaplin and Abigail is played well by Abigail Hopkins.
It is not only his personal life where Mr. Stevens coolly represses vital signs. His employer, Lord Darlington, played well by James Fox, is a German sympathizer who feels that the Treaty of Versailles conditions were unfair to Germany and set Germany up for political turmoil. He continues to be a German apologist for the 10 years leading up to the war, connecting Germans with German sympathizers. Lord Darlington's godson, played by Hugh Grant, is a young reporter who is able to penetrate the work of the upper class British aristocrats who were German sympathizers. Gradually, and carefully, the film takes the viewer from the point where we understand and sympathize with Lord Darlington's concern for Germany to the point where the Nazi dominance makes support impossible for any sensible thoughtful person. The sympathizers remain sympathetic too long and thus border on treason and infamy. In the early stages of this process, Congressman Lewis from the USA, played by Christopher Reeve, participates in early discussions around diplomatic relationships with Germany but warns the English gentlemen that they were playing a diplomatic game best played by professional diplomats.
Mr. Stevens represses his own emotions and his own critical judgment too long and too much, thus leaving us with a sad conclusion to a life not fully lived. The film captures the complexity of a life unlived, a rare feat.
The Remembrance of Things Past October 26, 2008
Edward C. Whitman (Potomac, MD)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I won't try to ring any novel changes on the extravagant praise and clever insights that a multitude of other reviewers have expressed over this wonderful movie. I'll just say - flat out - that this is one of the saddest, most bittersweet films ever made - and likely the best-ever portrayal of the sorrows of "what might have been." Been there. Done that.
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