How many servants were needed to maintain this home?
As I watched Remains of the Day, I was reminded of Life is Beautiful, where Roberto Begnini's character is told of honor in serving other people. He learns this from a relative just as Mr. Stevens did from his father. Although being a servant does not sound like an exciting career choice, Mr, Stevens takes great pride in his work and the stature he has within the hierarchy of the home's staff.
Much of that proud posturing comes from his opinion of his employer, Lord Darlington. Mr. Stevens views him, at first, as a man of grand public standing, who is attempting to accomplish great things. "...a man cannot call himself well-contented until he has done all he can to be of service to his employer. Of course, this assumes that one's employer is a superior person, not only in rank, or wealth, but in moral stature." Mr. Stevens, of course, never speaks ill of Darlington, even when Darlington becomes labeled a traitor. Instead of engaging in conversation that may besmirch his (former) employer's name, he simply removes himself from the conversation as politely as he can. Mr. Stevens never verbally judges anyone. Even the servants underneath him get only his non judgemental instructions. Look at how he shows the wait staff how to precisely set the formal dining table or when he tells another to, "Wake up." as there is an important meeting taking place in the home, going late into the night.
The only exception to this rule is Miss Kenton, "I'm very busy. I am surprised that you have nothing better to do than stand around all day..." He scolds her after she asks that a china man statue may be in the wrong locale in a room. In fact, she is the only person he treats at all without masking his manners. After annoying him, yet again, he tells her, "You know what I am doing, Miss Kenton? I am placing my thoughts elsewhere while you chatter away." Miss Kenton gets under his skin in a way that no one else ever had. She even invades his privacy where she discovers, almost against his will, that he secretly reads old fashioned love stories. He claims he does it to increase his vocabulary.
Although we get little to no direct information on Mr. Stevens' past, we can guess that he is a middle aged virgin who privately yearns for the kind of companion he only reads about when he has a moment to himself. As she is in charge of all of the maids, Miss Kenton is the closest woman to him in stature at the manor home and the only one who seems to be brave enough to ever question him. He is thrown off by her impertinence and even more so by her invasion into his private life. She stirs something in him that he is completely ill equipped to handle.
Mr Stevens loyalty lies with his employer and as it is the only life he has apparently ever known, it is where he is most comfortable. This creates Mr. Stevens dilemma. Should he keep his life as is, where everything is in exact order and he knows every day what needs to be done or does he allow Miss Kenton into his life, where surely his routine would become complicated and, more importantly, unpredictable. As the movie begins, we know what decision he made but can he right the wrong choice he made so long ago?
The fact that Anthony Hopkins lost the Oscar to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia is laughable. Hanks was certainly adequate but his win was more about the timing of the film's subject matter than anything else. Hopkins had to play every scene with repressed emotions yet still allow us to understand how he is feeling. Look at the slight hint of anger he shows when the arrogant man insults him, in the scene Patrick described. Notice the different ways he looks at Miss Kenton. Mr. Stevens has a perfected professional stone face but she manages to elicit slight variations of it from him, whether he is looking at her with annoyance or secret longing. It is truly one of the greater acting performances of its time.
Remains of the Day is a film about regret and unrequited love but it is also about pride, loyalty and perceptions. How many of us think of servants with any sort of reverence. Yet, here we have a butler who is, in almost every way, the master of a castle. No room is closed to him. He carries the house's keys and no one, save Lord Darlington or Miss Kenton, ever thinks to question him. It is a position that he lived for but his commitment to it proved to be all consuming, never allowing for anything else, including love, to impede on his duties. How terribly sad.
