The Remains of the Day 1993
I remember this movie getting a lot of acclaim when it came out, one of several Merchant-Ivory period pieces, and one of the few I actually saw (I think I started A Room With a View and never saw Howard’s End). This is a good movie, but it is a very small movie, essentially about one person, the butler Mr. Stevens, played by Anthony Hopkins, who was at the peak of a legendary career here. And that person is very emotionally withdrawn, and the movie is already incredibly slow. Even so, you know you are watching an amazing film and performance no matter how understated everything is. The movie takes place in the 1950’s with flashbacks to the 1930’s, at the country estate of a British earl, a classic for period drama with houses, cars, and clothes. It took me a couple of weeks to work my way through the movie, but it is still a rich and enjoyable experience, just very, very slow, made even slower by my lack of patience. I got a digital copy of the movie in 4k, but the picture is as subdued as the rest of the movie so I couldn’t have told you that it was 4k (and I wonder if it really is; looking into it further the copy I watched on Movies Anywhere may not be while the copy at Vudu is). Anyway, this is a very good movie, with some historical intrigue thrown in, but mostly about a butler who was great at his job, but whose life was otherwise empty, now at the end of his career. The movie is a little too slow for its own good, so I am taking off a little for that by giving it an A-.
Written: 05 Oct 2022
Owned on: Digital