Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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John Haycraft | ... | Auctioneer |
Christopher Reeve | ... | Lewis | |
Anthony Hopkins | ... | Stevens | |
Emma Thompson | ... | Miss Kenton | |
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Caroline Hunt | ... | Landlady |
James Fox | ... | Lord Darlington | |
Peter Vaughan | ... | Father | |
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Paula Jacobs | ... | Mrs. Mortimer, the Cook |
Ben Chaplin | ... | Charlie, Head Footman | |
Steve Dibben | ... | George, Second Footman | |
Abigail Hopkins | ... | Housemaid (as Abigail Harrison) | |
Patrick Godfrey | ... | Spencer | |
Peter Cellier | ... | Sir Leonard Bax | |
Peter Halliday | ... | Canon Tufnell | |
Hugh Grant | ... | Cardinal |
Rule bound head butler Stevens' (Sir Anthony Hopkins') world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of housekeeper Miss Kenton (Dame Emma Thompson), who falls in love with him in pre-World War II Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude. Written by Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>
In the WWII era, Mr Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) is a well experienced, dedicated butler who's loyal to his pro-Nazi master. He is always placid and graceful. Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) is a new housekeeper and her liveliness and wit somehow touches Mr Stevens' very soul. But he conceals his feeling towards her, and she can never unlock that closed door of his heart.
Mr Stevens looks back on all this while on a road trip for meeting Miss Kenton after twenty years. He now serves a new master, Lewis (Christopher Reeve) who was once one of the guests of his formal master back in the 1940s. On the way his memory slowly flows back to him (and he also realises that his formal master was not an impeccable man after all)...when Mr Stevens and Miss Kenton bid farewell again, she looks into his eyes while her tears roll down her cheeks...a very sad scene.
'The Remains of the Day' is about love that is never obtained...love that is never verbally expressed...love of which you finally has to let go...having read the book (which is finely written), I realise that this film is a wonderfully successful adaptation. Anyone who's into love stories should watch this.