Review of The Remains of the Day (1993) by Jake C — 28 Nov 2018

As impeccable, meticulous, and thoughtfully crafted as the mansion itself, filled with painstaking details and piercing performances that lack in neither emotion or intelligence. The film moves slowly, deliberately, gradually exposing its depths and corners and hidden nooks, shadows concealed by florid taste which are revealed and concealed in swift succession.

The house itself becomes a character in its own right, just as Stevens, the butlerï¿ 1/2"played to perfection by Anthony Hopkins at the peak of his powers, though everyone here is truly remarkableï¿ 1/2"is the essence of the house, aloof and studied; yet the butler, a metonym for the whole of the English class system of peerage, is himself a stand-in for the national character, a stiff upper lip in sum and substance.