The Remains of the Day 4K 1993 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Stevens is an exemplary English butler who has spent his life on an ancient estate. He has given his heart to selfless service, and there is nothing that can make him betray his duty. Suddenly the usual course of days is disrupted when a new housekeeper, Miss Kenton, shows up at the manor.

Stevens tries to hide his deep feelings for this woman, but neither centuries of tradition nor sacred duties can stop the love that has flared up. It is only now, at the end of his days, that the devoted butler has discovered the one ideal worthy of true service...

Review 4K Movie

The British are cool, reserved, and prim and proper. They are silent in transport, do not raise their voices in public places, do not kiss in the street. They are poised, sedate, love the home, the garden, sports, the club, tea and pets. Brits are countryside, tweed suit, pipe, front garden and fireplace. It is the spelling of the English language, left-hand traffic, the technology of brewing ale and making whiskey. It is tradition, conservatism, a special sense of humor and love of the absurd, a strange habit of making jokes about what surrounds them without showing disrespect. Amazing tact. A condescension, a hubris, an arrogance, a remnant of imperial ambition, of their colonial heritage when the flag of the British Empire flew over a quarter of the land. It is the pursuit of freedom, respect for private property, extreme individualism, entrepreneurialism and industriousness; it is the critical attitude to politics, the sharp, frequent arguments in Hyde Park. It is the English Channel, the narrow strip of water between the continent and the British Isles, the moat that protects the 'island-fortress' from invaders and guards the special English mentality. Without understanding the English, it is impossible to love them. Without loving them, it is impossible to understand them.

This is why James Avey's painting, a touching reverence for all things British, will be misunderstood by many outside the Foggy Albion today. It will seem dull, drawn out, cold, without plot. Why? There is too much that is genuinely British. Too much background in the absence of characters in the foreground. Too much atmosphere in the absence of events. Too much talk about politics in the absence of conflict, action, and incident. Too many subtle hints of love in the absence of hugs and confessions. Too much eloquent silence and conversations on distracted subjects. Too much 'thank you', 'you are so kind', and 'take care'. This is more of a painting than a film. A series of etchings from the lives of the inhabitants of an old English manor on the eve of World War II, and that life is an amazing interweaving of the lives of the owners of 'Darlington Hall' and its servants, led by a devoted hereditary butler.

'The Remains of the Day' is the story of two men, employer and servant, written for each with their own brushes and paints but, ironically, of the same metaphorical content. Butler Stevens is a voluntary property of Darlington Hall. Serving the table, polishing the silver, and preparing for banquets serve as a prism through which Stevens views the world, confining it to the economic life of the manor, while history literally plays out in front of him - Lord Darlington hosts the powerful, diplomats, officials, ministers. But does he hear the conversations he attends? No. Does he have an opinion of his own? No. With blindness, self-delusion, and the illusion of comfort in his little world, Stevens shields himself from all dangers and upheavals, whether it is a wind of political change or a sudden feeling for his new housekeeper, a young, opinionated woman eager to adorn his discreet, modest, but tightly controlled and orderly existence with herself and a bouquet of flowers on his desk.

Meanwhile, his peacemaker master, equally short-sighted and unfree of prejudice, guided by guilt and an obsolete sense of honor, is already plunging England into World War II, piously believing that he seeks to save her from that war... The conservatism of both becomes a blindfold in a rapid race to the edge of the abyss. 'The Remains of the Day' is the tragedy of one man who missed his chance for happiness. It is the tragedy of a social stratum of British amateur politicians, strangers to radicalism and willing to sacrifice dry theory for the verdant tree of practical compromise. It is the tragedy of a country that has lost its former role in the political arena, but desperately clings to the mirage of its own heroic past. It is beauty in details, drama in facial expressions and voices without reference to dialogues and phrases, a culture in which I am avidly in love, despite all its flaws and contradictions.

Anthony Hopkins. Bad Character. Years of alcoholism. Late fame. Sir, you are a genius, I love you. His Stevens - how he walks, how he talks, how he smiles nervously and subserviently, while his thoughts are far away and occupied with other things! How exaggeratedly violent he reacts to a broken bottle of wine, how he hurries to get away from the woman's cruel words, while forcing himself to stay and express appropriate congratulations. How he flinches at Miss Kenton's approach, how he touches his gaze to her face in the famous fight scene for the book. How fleetingly, flustered and embarrassed he smiles in reply to her phrase 'for I left the manor then to annoy you. Self-love, firmness, posture in the beginning. Vulnerability, insecurity, hunched over at the end. It cannot be described. It has to be seen.

Emma Thompson. Her feelings are a butterfly caught in a glass jar. Unable to break the glass, she beats desperately against its surface, hurting herself acutely. How she nervously paces the room, how she almost obsessively attracts Stevens' attention with household trifles, how she sparkles with her eyes during confrontations and quarrels, how she strives to be needed! She has struggled. Tired. Almost resigned. And in the meantime, along the foggy embankment, the lights came on in the twilight. For someone, evening is the best time of day. For whom? For them?

Someone has said that this film gives rise not to a luminous sadness, but to a gloomy sorrow. Such a reaction is possible and even predictable, if you take the failed romance of the characters or the flaw of the English mentality to heart, but for most viewers this James Ivory picture, I'm afraid, will remain a monotonous, reserved, low-event and joyless sketch of the life of a British estate, understandable only to the English themselves and passionate fans of their peculiar culture. For me, however, every millimeter of film is precious in this exceptional picture.