The Remains of the Day (1993)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The REMAINS OF THE Day is based on the pre-war days Britain and holds merit in being a material of significant insight; the drama between butler and head mistress or house keeper stands out. The movie became alive after the start of this film like a strange book; dialogue and screenplay. Feeling enchanted but certain appreciation to humans is well shot here by James Ivory. The director is acceptably in his element; to be alive. The humans all spent time and have offered their on screen space with us and this element makes this masterpiece worth noting and reviewing. Then the objective is certain because the direction has provided this window to view through. The actress and actor who are note worthy are the entire crew but an academy award is the sole left behind prospect. Must-watch for merit and being a worthy film to shoot.

James Ivory's "The Remains of the Day" is a movie with one of the best movie set designs that I have ever seen and it is very well made. The movie was adapted from the 1989 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro and the screenplay was written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala who also wrote Oscar winning screenplays for "A Room with a View" (1986), and "Howards End" (1992) both which I didn't get the chance to see yet. The movie stars Anthony Hopkins as James Stevens a man who has been working as a butler for several years for a man named Jack Lewis (Christopher Reeve) during the post WWII years Stevens would eventually fall in love with a housekeeper named Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) in Britain. Ivory has been known to direct romance movies but this is one of the most well shot and well acted, it isn't a great movie but is a good one but it doesn't rank with some of the best romance movies ever made. When I watched this movie a few years ago I was left with some unanswered questions which were Who was Stevens really as a person?, Why was Lewis misguiding him and many more. Another problem that I had with this movie was that Jhabvala's screenplay doesn't help us to really figure out who the characters really as people but she does do a good job at generating a little bit of empathy for the Anthony Hopkins character. The movie also has a lot of good things about most importantly the cast, as well as Tony Pierce Roberts' cinematography which was really good, and besides the set the costumes were nothing short of brilliant. I'm hoping that the other two Ivory films that I listed are much better than this one despite the fact that I happened to like this one.

I guess you could call this a romance story about a love that is never obtained. And as such, it is both bittersweet and brilliant.I love HOWARDS END (the other film Emma Thompson & Anthony Hopkins made with Merchant Ivory), but I think this production is perhaps just a bit better. I like how they refuse to give us the obligatory happy ending for these two characters-- he stagnates, but she changes considerably through her marriage to another man. I think if she had left her husband and gotten together with him at the end, it would have been a step backward for her, and I am glad they didn't do that. It's a beautiful film with a poignant story.

A butler (Anthony Hopkins) who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years post World War I realizes too late how misguided his loyalty has been.This is a very interesting film. Maybe not historically accurate, but it raises some great themes. The butler is there, he sees the interaction of English and German, but it is not his place to speak up or speak out. His loyalty outweighs any personal opinion he may have. This is likely a realistic thing that happened throughout Europe, and could even be seen as a parallel to today's whistle-blowers. When does our conscience outweigh our loyalty? The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but won none. This is due in part to "Schindler's List", which ended up winning five of those. I guess that's fair. Both are World War II films and both discuss the Jewish situation... but one is the emotional superior.