The Remains of the Day (1993) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 9

  I once saw someone call Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence the most violent film ever made. not in terms of on screen violence, it is an utterly bloodless film, but in terms of emotional repression and unfulfilled existence/romance. their belief was that the emotional pain and sacrifice of personal desire and affection for either duty or honour, is more brutal than any sequence of savage bloody violence. it’s not the end of love, but the lack of ability to properly take advantage of it is the worst heartbreak someone can endure. the regret, the longing of not just the person but the possibilities of what could have been if nothing but your emotions mattered. this all applies to The Remains…

• Review by Laura Saladino ★★★★

  Anthony Hopkins attempting to give Hugh Grant a sex talk in a stately English garden is one of the best things ever put on screen.

• Review by Nakul ★★★★½ 2

  "Why? Why, Mr. Stevens, why do you always have to hide what you feel?"

  Equal measures romantic and wistful, James Ivory's The Remains of the Day is one of the most poignant unrequited love stories ever. Beautifully made, riding with a breeze of melancholy and grace. The final scene between Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson hits you right in the centre of your heart.
  Anthony Hopkins is a damn treasure. He gives one of the best performances ever committed to film. Such a powerful and remarkably controlled performance, his body language & stare conveys so many feelings.

• Review by regina ★★★★★ 3

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  emotionally constipated hannibal and frustrated mrs. potts are in love with each other but unfortunately they're british

• Review by phoebe 💫 ★★★★½

  repression core

• Review by Chris 🍉 ★★★★★ 3

  "I'd be lost without her."

  I speak in hyperbole often but let me be completely literal: this is the absolute most painful film I've ever experienced and I wouldn't be surprised if it is the most painful film I ever will see. Every single frame, every twitch of Anthony Hopkins' face (who gives one of the best performances from any actor I've ever seen), every breath from Emma Thompson's mouth, every note of music, every missed opportunity... laced and dripping with pain, repression, and tragedy. The first time I watched this I was sent into a depressive episode that lasted longer than I care to admit and the film is no less affecting the second time. Movies really don't get much more perfectly crafted than this

• Review by DrStrange110 ★★★★ 4

  The way Sir Hopkins expresses emotions without saying words is a silent poetry that just makes me cry

• Review by Scott Tobias ★★★★½ 3

  My favorite of the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala collaborations. I'm a sucker for unrequited love stories in general, but the context of this one is so uniquely painful-- that Mr. Stevens, an English gentleman of the oldest school, should sacrifice his happiness to serve a master so utterly compromised and foolish and unworthy... well, as the kids say, you hate to see it.

• Review by MJsays ★★★★ 1

  Never would I have imagined that two hours of observing posh folk politely offending each other while simultaneously falling in love would be something I’d enjoy, but here we are.

• Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 2

  I’ve seen one or two of James’s movies before this one and honestly, they didn’t work for me, and one of them even had the GOAT Daniel Day Lewis! So while I see many people singing their praises for this one and all the Oscar noms it got, I was very adamant to check it out so it stayed on my queue list for months.

  And I am glad to see that my worries were unfounded. This is not the most enthralling and exciting film ever, but it’s a great one. Ivory brings such a delicacy to his movies, leaning less into the melodrama and more into the drama. Sometimes there’s a sense of solemnity and a “Britishness” to them,…

• Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★

  I don't know what acting is, but whatever it is, I suspect that Anthony Hopkins in the years 1991-1993 did it as well as it can be done.

• Review by Alec Price ★★★★★

  This utterly sublime adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning novel not only represents the very best of the Merchant Ivory stable but also features the best performance of Anthony Hopkins' career. His turn as the dutiful and introverted butler Stevens is breathtaking in its carefully mannered discipline and precise attention to nuance, creating an indelibly moving impression of a man who in the later stages of middle age has only just begun to evaluate the loss of a life spent devoted to service at the expense of personal need. The gradual recognition of his deep longing for human connection with housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson, equally impressive) is relayed in episodic flashbacks that also depict the social demise of his…