A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
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Director:
James Ivory
Stars:
Maggie Smith,
Helena Bonham Carter,
Denholm Elliott
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned Christian theologian, writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham from the U.S.
Director:
Richard Attenborough
Stars:
Anthony Hopkins,
Debra Winger,
Julian Fellowes
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the titular opposites.
A tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Stars:
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Winona Ryder
In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.
A man's coerced confession to an IRA bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.
Director:
Jim Sheridan
Stars:
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Pete Postlethwaite,
Alison Crosbie
Ted Kramer's wife leaves him, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple's son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Director:
Robert Benton
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
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Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.
The news of the death of Franco has a special resonance in the family formed by Florentina, her daughter Encarna, her son Hilario and the children of the marriage, Juanita and Manolín. At ... See full summary »
Director:
Fernando Fernán Gómez
Stars:
Fernando Fernán Gómez,
María Asquerino,
Agustín González
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>
The book from which Lord Darlington (James Fox) is reading when he decides to dismiss the German Jewish maids is The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. The book promotes racialist anti-Semitic theories. The passage begins, "We certainly do the Jews no injustice when we say that the revelation of Christ is simply something incomprehensible and hateful to them." See more »
Goofs
(or possibly just character error) At the very beginning Miss Kenton mentions a conference "back in 1936". At the very end of the film, Lewis asks, "Isn't this the same room where we all attended that banquet back in 1935?" See more »
Quotes
Father:
There was this English butler out in India. One day, he goes in the dining room and what does he see under the table ? A tiger. Not turning a hair, he goes straight to the drawing room. "Hum, hum. Excuse me, my lord," and whispering, so as not to upset the ladies : "I'm very sorry my lord. There appears to be a tiger in the dining room. Perhaps his Lordship will permit use of the twelve bores ?" They go on drinking their tea. And then, there's three gunshots. Well, they don't think nothing of ...
See more »
Anthony Hopkins as Mr. Stevens in The Remains of the Day made for truly excellent drama. His portrayal of the dedicated butler was picture perfect. He conveyed all the controlled subtleties of his character with great conviction. Stevens' dedication to his profession above all other considerations was both admirable and sad. All his interactions felt genuine and his personal journey was set wonderfully against the historical setting of World War II era Europe. Even the Nazi angle was considered with a more even hand than it is usually treated with. The practical considerations of the politicians of the time added a great sense of realism. The high profile supporting cast was also in top form though make no mistake this is Hopkins' film. Strongly recommended, 9/10.
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Anthony Hopkins as Mr. Stevens in The Remains of the Day made for truly excellent drama. His portrayal of the dedicated butler was picture perfect. He conveyed all the controlled subtleties of his character with great conviction. Stevens' dedication to his profession above all other considerations was both admirable and sad. All his interactions felt genuine and his personal journey was set wonderfully against the historical setting of World War II era Europe. Even the Nazi angle was considered with a more even hand than it is usually treated with. The practical considerations of the politicians of the time added a great sense of realism. The high profile supporting cast was also in top form though make no mistake this is Hopkins' film. Strongly recommended, 9/10.