Conference bookie::movies

    I agree with all you said: this is a wonderful film! Those of us who
    did not live through the late 1930's might have a hard time
    understanding how the world could deal so gently with the rise of
    Germany until it was too late to avert a long and nasty war. This film
    gave a good insight into how the British, French, and Americans could
    allow the buildup of a power which is today universally regarded
    as evil.
    
    Anthony Hopkins' performance was absolutely flawless, and E.T. worked
    well with him.
    
    <spoiler>
    
    
    This was a great treatment of courage, or lack of courage, and how it
    can alter people's lives. At every turn, Hopkins chose the route that
    would be the least emotionally risky, and thus sacrificed his possible
    happiness for safety. Even at the end he has not learned: he tells the
    doctor who gives him a lift that he is going now in the hopes of
    setting right an error made when he was younger; but when Emma tells of
    her wish to stay in the west of Britian, he (tragically) does the safe
    thing once more, and doesn't tell her of his feelings.
    
    One reviewer said that Hopkins was even scarier in this movie than in
    Silence of the Lambs; because not many people can relate to Dr. Lecter,
    but most can see the Mr. Stevens in themselves.
    
    The funniest line in the movie was when the german ambassador, on being
    shown a painting at Darlington Hall, tells his aide to "make a note of
    it, for later."

    
    i thought it was a yawn. the 'political' story is far more 
    interesting than the 'personal' story and gets about 1/10th 
    the attention.
    
    

    I agree, it was a yawn. My wife, however, just loved it. Good acting.
    
    What was the point of the pigeon scene? It seemed only to make the film
    go on even longer than necessary.
    
      John

    Well, I have to disagree with the last two opinions.  I saw this movie
    yesterday and I *loved* it.  I think it's my favorite movie of the
    year, so far, nudging The Age of Innocence out of first place.
    
    No one can compare with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins when it comes
    to acting.  They can convey so much with just an expression.  Emma
    Thompson has become my favorite actress in a very short time.  I just
    love her.
    
    I thought the movie was absolutely engrossing.  It had me hooked from
    the very first, there was so much going on, and everything rang so true
    to life.  It really shows the complexities of life and how we both
    choose and don't choose what happens to us.  An excellent movie.
    
    ***** out of *****
    
    Lorna
    

    	What a wonderful film this was! It is without doubt my favorite
    	film of the year. The acting between Anthony Hopkins and Emma
    	Thompson was superb. The Merchant Ivory team did another fine
    	job on par with their past accomplishments. It was a beautifully 
    	filmed and deeply touching movie. 

    	I loved it. ***** out of *****.

    	-Erik

I saw this last night, and enjoyed it.  Its quality is consistent with the
Merchant Ivory standard.  Hopkins is excellent, and Thompson is very good.

It is essentially a study of the Hopkins character, a butler whose dedication
to a highly questionable ideal of domestic service -- which seems to amount to 
tireless, imperturbable servility -- leads him to be complicit with his foolish
employer's flirtation with Nazism, and disables him from loving the Thompson
character.  Hopkins's performance is really outstanding.

    By the way, does anybody know where the title, "The Remains of the
    Day," comes from?  It has the look of being a quotation from somewhere. 
    I don't think I heard the phrase used in the movie.
    
    -Stephen

    
    He was an Apache pilot in "Firebirds"
    I think thats the name of the movie.
    
    Wasn't he an officer in another war movie?
    Rob M.
    

    
    I believe it comes from the novel on which the script was based.  Where
    the Japanese author got it is beyond me.  Though since the movie's
    doing fairly well, I imagine one could go to a book store and look in
    the front matter of a paperback edition to see if there's anything
    enlightening there.
    
    DFW

Re .7 --

I think the title is from a scene at the very end of the novel. On "Day Six,
Evening--Weymouth", Stevens is sitting on a bench by the pier. He notices that
several people have gathered to watch the turning on of the evening pier
lights.

Another man, who turns out also to have been a butler, engages him in
conversation. This man, happily retired, tells Stevens,

"You've got to enjoy yourself. The evening's the best part of the day. You've
done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it. That's how I
look at it. Ask anybody, they'll all tell you. The evening's the best part of
the day."

Stevens then remarks,

"Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking 
back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the
best of what remains of my day."

This appears to be a moment in which it appears Stevens finally "gets it", but
of course "putting his feet up and enjoying it" is exactly what he cannot
do, as we see when he continues: 

"After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves
if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? There is little
choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great
gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services."

He completely misses the point that "the remains" is the best time of the day
because it is the time left over for oneself. Instead he chooses to see it as
simply more time available for improving his bantering technique, so as to be
in a position to "pleasantly surprise" his new American master.

It appears he is willfully oblivious to the obvious lesson. His alternative is
to face the fact that his entire life was misguided. I haven't seen the movie,
so don't know if they ended it in the same way.

Neil

    Thanks.
    
    There is a similar scene, beautifully photographed, near the end of the 
    film.  I didn't pick up the "Remains of the Day" phrase, though I remember
    someone saying "The evening's the best part of the day," or something
    similar.
    
    The movie ends with a scene, shot from outside, of Stevens shutting a 
    window, after shooing out a pigeon trapped inside.  The camera then
    pulls away from the house...
    
    -Stephen

    I finally got to see this last weekend. I'm hesitant to say this, it
    may have been my mood, but I don't think so.
    
    Although a beautiful film, and well acted, I found this to paraphrase
    another noter (about another movie) "Much ado about nothing".
    
    Like someone else in this string, I found the political story far more
    interesting than the personal one. I had other problems with this. See
    more behind spoiler comments - 
    
    
    
    Spoiler:
    
    I did not believe Stevens would have let his father be employed there
    after the first accident. Given his total inability to recognize any
    kind of emotion, I'm not sure he would have even wanted him employed
    there at all, let alone after a mishap.
    
    The Emma Thompson character was more believable, but I felt there
    should have been more interaction shown between them. What there was
    just made me think he must have thought her a "frightful nuisance"
    rather than be in love with her. My feeling is that they put too much
    in not enough time. They should have developed the personal story more,
    and pushed back the political, or the other way around.
    
    I too liked the scene with the German ambassador.
    
    
    Marilyn