Review of The Remains of the Day (1993) by Lisa M — 17 Oct 2010

5: Merchant/Ivory and Jhabvala are ridiculous. I want to say "they" don't make them like this anymore and that it's a throw back to an earlier era, but I think the real truth is that no one ever made them like this except this team.

It is in many ways a "once a medium" group of collaborators whose time has come and gone. Emma Thompson's work in the early to mid-90s is amazing, this included. Anthony Hopkins performance is totally unlike anything else he has ever done.

There is no trace of Burt Monro, Henry Wilcox, Hannibal Lector, Nixon, Titus, etc. He is one of the few actors who can disappear into their characters (Streep and Day-Lewis being others). This is one of the movies that helped me realize this was actually the case with him.

I can't say enough good things about the film. The script is phenomenal, as is the novel. I can't recall just how many differences there are between the two as I haven't read the novel in a few years, but the film is definitely an extremely worthy adaptation.

It's a potent and touching film that straddles a number of eras and themes. For me, films don't get much more straightforwardly complex, if that makes any sense. There are few other pictures out there that seem to so accurately capture this time period and leave one with such a powerful sense of what has been lost.

It was certainly an end of an era, just as the passing of Ishmail Merchant has sadly ended this teams era. This is the kind of picture that just keeps getting better and better over time as well, as only the best and most lasting do.