25 out of 26 people found the following review helpful:

A winner from the reliable Merchant and Ivory team

A Customer from Wales, 10th June, 2004

Beautiful to watch, this story of a repressed love is played perfectly by Anthony Hopkins; and Emma Thompson, whom I normally find a grossly overated lighweight, holds her end up surprisingly well. The background of the household of a pre-war aristocrat, with its social distinctions and above and below stairs schism is well depicted by a convincing supporting cast. The period really does come alive. Fox is excellent as the well meaning but naive Lord Darlington, and Hugh Grant shows in his later scenes how good an actor he could of been, had he not based his career on rehashing the light-comic foppish turn of his early ones.
Every film worth its salt should have at least one defining scene that will linger long in the memory even if all else fades. Here it's the 'book scene', where Thompson catches Hopkins reading a book in his spare time, but he's reluctant to say what it is... The scene's a masterclass in composition and acting, and the emotional charge will leave you drained.

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13 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Truly remarkable performance

Andyhjam from from Stockport, 15th September, 2004

Merchant-Ivory delivers a special tale of hidden emotion using their own particular literary cinematic style.

Recounting the post Great war years of Darlington Manor and its somewhat misguided Lord, the story is told through the eyes of Mr.Stevens, the uncompromisingly servile Butler. The few relationships he has allow the presence of other characters, yet the arrival of Miss Kenton, the Housekeeper begins the story of painful formality, blinding honour and emotional denial.

Hopkins as Mr. Stevens is full of sullen magnificence, bringing a tremendous charisma and power through nuances alone as his script from beginning to end is purposefully formal and bland.

Thompson's character brings colour and vitality to the vacuous and cheerless Manor, it is her struggle to break the barriers of professional conduct between herself and Stevens that creates the heartache at the centre of both the book and this film.

The patient direction allows us to appreciate the passage of time over the plot of the film, jumping between past and present, we feel more for the emotionally beleaguered Stevens as we appreciate the internalised nature of his life.

The acting on all parts is both high calibre and emotionally draining, an absorbing costume and set design make the story all the more absorbing. The sub-plots are all neatly tied up by the end, leaving the tale of misspent time and lost opportunity seeping from Hopkins truly remarkable performance.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Total waste of time!!!

Jamjar1 from , 18th August, 2007

What a waste of two hours! The acting was excellent, but the story was utter dribble! There were simply NO plot! All it showed was that politicians and the uppercrust think nothing of the little people, which we already know anyway! The settings, locations, & the time period were all beautifully co-ordinated, but the story was utter rubbish, the ending was THE most pathetic I've ever seen! It's a great film for nostalgia, for those who were around at that time, but other than that, don't bother! 24 & Prison Break fans keep well away from this film, it will leave you nothing but frustrated!

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6 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

More than just a film

David Hunt from Romsey, Hampshire., 26th November, 2004

I had seen The Remains of the Day on its cinema release and have bored many people with my insistance that they take the time to view it. Sir Anthony Hopkins could not have performed better and with such a strong cast and wonderful script the film is not just entertainment but a lesson for those wanting to understand what good acting is really about. My favorite film of all time!

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Hopkins is a god.

Bojarkus from , 9th March, 2010

A well cast, brilliant film. Yet rather slow and drawn out ending. Hopkins and Thompson rarely get better than this.

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SLooooooooW

A Customer from Bristol, 25th January, 2010

I was really lookng forward to this film as I like Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It started well and the first 45 minutes weregood, setting the scene etc, but the rest of the film just didn't seem to GO anywhere. There was very little plot, hardly anything happened, it was all very, very slow and I was left at the end saying 'What WAS the point of that'. I LOVE period dramas and am used to the slower beautiful pace of them, but if this had gone any slower, it would have gone backwards!

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Entertaining with political interest

Antollamh from , 23rd December, 2009

I enjoyed this film, set in the 1930s. It is also a good reminder of how many of the British ruling class were Nazi sympathisers.

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Perfect

richiemassey from from London, 27th November, 2009

If you loved the book- and it made me weep in one line - then you'll adore this film, which dispels in one fowl swoop the myth that cinema can't emulate literature. Anthony Hopkins is what you always imagined Mr Stephens to be. Emma Thompson never lets the film become sentimental. If only they could do the same with Never Let Me Go.

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