The Remains of the Day – ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – R – Remains of the Day – Movie Review
Director: James Ivory
Writer: Kazuo Ishiguro, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Screenplay)
Cast
- Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs)
- Emma Thompson (Love Actually)
- Christopher Reeve (Superman)
- James Fox (Sexy Beast)
- Hugh Grant (Paddington 2)
Plot: 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.
Runtime: 2 Hours 14 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Remains of the Day starts as we meet Stevens (Hopkins) a butler for Lord Darlington (Fox). He has spent his whole life working for Lord Darlington but upon his death, he finds himself with a new owner Lewis (Reeve). As Stevens looks back at his life, he remembers Miss Kenton (Thompson) a young lady who also worked at the mansion. She has helped him realize things about his life but moved on with her own life.
Stevens goes in search of Miss Kenton to bring her back to the mansion under the new management. Along the way, he starts to realize that he has spent his whole life serving and not enough of it living. As Stevens looks at life outside the home, he learns about the outside world’s opinion of Lord Darlington and his involvement in World War II.
Verdict on The Remains of the Day
Remains of the Day is a drama following a butler who dedicated his life to one household, only to start to realize he missed too much. He sees his former boss die and the new one starts to give him more freedom. However, this leads to him questioning why he dedicated so much of his life.
This is a movie that shows that people must learn to remember to live life before time runs out. It shows that some people can put everything into a career and before it is too late, they will end up with nothing to be remembered by. Yes, the era made it more difficult as work was important to survive. However, now we can see the effect it had on this man. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson are both amazing in their performances throughout the film.
Final Thoughts – Remains of the Day is a powerful drama about understanding life.
