The Remains of the Day

Directed by James Ivory, The Remains of the Day follows a butler (Anthony Hopkins’ Stevens) as he puts his job above everything else in his life. Filmmaker James Ivory, armed with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s screenplay, delivers a slow-moving yet increasingly absorbing drama that’s anchored by Hopkins’ magnificent turn as the closed-off central character, with the impact of the actor’s searing, heartbreaking efforts certainly heightened by a recurring emphasis on scenes and sequences of a captivating nature. (The movie’s high-water-mark, for example, comes with an absolutely spellbinding interlude wherein Stevens attempts to hide his romance novel from his fetching coworker, Emma Thompson’s Miss Kenton.) It’s clear, too, that The Remains of the Day benefits substantially from the top-notch work of its talented roster of periphery players, with folks like Christopher Reeve, James Fox, and Hugh Grant offering up memorable supporting performances that elevate the proceedings on a recurring basis – which, when coupled with a thoroughly satisfying (and appropriately downbeat) closing stretch, cements the picture’s place as a first-class adaptation that ultimately fares better than its good (but not great) source material.

**** out of ****