Review of The Remains of the Day (1993) by James M — 23 Feb 2010

Every frame of this film is beautiful. It's like watching a work of art in motion. Which is appropriate, because the central conceit is that our hero (Hopkins) never changes: a duty devoted, repressed Butler. He does not flinch a jot as major historical and personal events unfold around him. From the outbreak of war/surrounding debates over appeasement; to the decline and death of his father; through two changes of ownership in the estate he monitors..Hopkins remains poised, calm, a servant yet never servile. And his character thereby misses out on the biggest event of all: love. Mrs. Kenton, the housekeeper (Emma Thompson in one of her best roles) is an equally dedicated professional. But she is morev liberated and warm than the Butler she admires. And, as her feelings for him are on the cusp of expression, his remain internalised and frozen. And so, the big question that frames the film: Was he right, or has his behaviour lost him the one thing he truly needed to be fulfilled? And we are also left in the hope that he can retrieve things, with shades of 'Brief Encounter' in the meeting that could fix everything between two lost souls. One of Hopkin's best: it's like Hannibal in a different key; real menace in his psycopathic devotion to duty; unnerving authority in his delivery and real magic in the moments where his face and its marriage to the lighting/sound/scenery is the bridge to another scene. Merchant Ivory at their finest.

Watch out for a young Hugh Grant, too playing a truly 'repressed Englishman' (he always gets called that, I have seen little evidence of it other than here..).