Netflix Challenge #4- The Remains of the Day

"A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years post World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty has been." ( from imdb.com)

My fourth pick for my Netflix Challenge is another one available on instant. The Remains of the Day came out in theatres in 1993 and is based on the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was nominated for a number of Oscars including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Actor/Actress for Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. I've seen bits and pieces of this movie over the years but never enough to fully understand the plot. I decided now would be a good time to finally see it all the way through!

I'll start by saying the movie is gorgeous! I'd recommend it for the visual aspect alone. The scenes of the English countryside are breathtaking and the interior shots of Darlington Manor are a sight to behold. Especially for an American like me not used to houses of that size and stature.

So much of the story is about restraint and coming to terms with your place in your little corner of the world. The main character played by Hopkins, is Stevens. He's been the butler at Darlington Manor for seemingly his whole adult life and it has completely shaped him and his worldview. He is so wrapped up in his duties and dignity that he doesn't see a lot of what's going on in front of him. Correction: he sees it but basically looks beyond it or pretends he doesn't understand. It was frustrating for me as a viewer because I genuinely thought he would change his ways at many points throughout the movie but he just kept soldiering on. The epitome of the stiff upper lip English people are always accused of having.

Many sites list this movie as a romance but to me isn't a romance in the strictest sense of the word. There is not a happy ending necessarily. I go back to the word restraint here because THAT is what you see. Hopkins and Thompson embody that word so well. The heat in the looks he gives her character of Miss Kenton! The way he stares at her whenever he gets the chance! Unfortunately I kept imagining Hannibal Lector but that was totally my brain and nothing at all in the movie. :)

The Remains of the Day was an extremely well made, well acted, and beautiful movie. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys period pieces, movies set in England or is just a fan of that Merchant/Ivory style of movie. (They did in fact make this one :))

On a side note: I was interested in the author of the book the movie was made from. His name is Kazuo Ishiguro and his two most well known books,(The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) are both set in England. After perusing his Wikipedia page I learned his family moved to England when he was 6 so that explains the settings. There was one line on the page that I felt described this movie very well.

"Ishiguro's novels often end without any sense of resolution. The issues his characters confront are buried in the past and remain unresolved. Thus Ishiguro ends many of his novels on a note of melancholic resignation. His characters accept their past and who they have become, typically discovering that this realization brings comfort and an ending to mental anguish."

I'm curious to read Never Let Me Go. I've had it on my bookshelves for awhile. I'd heard many good things and when I heard it was being made into a movie, I decided to pick it up. I think I might pick up The Remains of the Day as well.

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