The Remains of the Day: James Ivory tells a sad, sad story; it’s a quiet, elegant journey, one that looks both into the soul of one man and into the British classes in the interwar period, as well as their general behaviour. The film may lack the incredible beauty of Kazuo Ishiguro’s prose, but it wisely avoids what would be the easiest solution to that, wall-to-wall voice-overs. Anthony Hopkins gives a great, subtle performance of repressed emotions, which are shown with the smallest of gestures. He is well-matched by Emma Thompson, who plays the headstrong, believable love interest with some proper energy. James Fox is fine as the naïve, over-his-head lord. The musical score of Richard Robbins is very interesting, eschewing a bit from the traditional classical overtones. Production and costume design are top-notch, and the main location, very charming. Director of photography Tony Pierce-Roberts frames very cleanly, classically, but the film is over-lit.
