Remains of the Day is a brilliantly acted movie dealing principally with themes of regret, lost opportunity, and unconsummated love. The movie takes place almost entirely within the confines of the house, which comes to represent the aristocratic way of life – and its decline. Interestingly, in this film we see the aristocratic way of life from the point of view of James Stevens, the butler, who is as much as part of that life as the aristocrats themselves. The decline of the aristocrats is also the decline of the servants way of life.
So strong is the connection between Mr. Stevens and the house that is comes to symbolize him just as much, if not more, than Lord Darlington. The office of butler was evidently a high and respected one. He oversaw all the practical matters of running the household, including hiring, firing and supervising the rest of the servant staff. As such, he was acquainted with the smallest details of the house, as seen when he corrected his staff about the placement of decorative objects in the various rooms, or when he is seen training a younger servant in the exact arrangement of a dinner service. His connection with the house is emphasized more as we see him move in and out of the servant passageways, at one point startling his master with his sudden appearance. He knows the house intimately, and as its manager, the house cannot but reflect some of the butlers character.
The film opens with a montage of James Stevens going about his duties in an empty, once-grand house. It is sparsely furnished and seems even more sparsely inhabited. As he looks at the walls, we see them as they once were, as he remembers them. Paintings, lavish furnishings, and other servants fade into the scene, only to fade out again as he returns from his reminiscence back to the stark present. These flashbacks to grander times establish a tone of regret and loss. From the very first scenes, we see the contrast between the bright, colorful and flourishing aristocratic world and the present one, in which that way of life seems no longer tenable.
Framed by this foreboding sense of loss and regret, one pivot about which the action of the movie revolves is Lord Darlington’s political intrigues.(1 )Darlington explains that it is not right to kick a man when he is down and that is what Europe did to Germany after the first war. To amend for that injustice, Darlington is sympathetic to Germany and uses his influence to advance German interests in Britain.
A “peace conference” is hosted by Darlington and attended primarily by German sympathizers. An American congressman by the name of Jack Lewis also attends the event. At the final dinner, he becomes exasperated and makes a speech: “You are, all of you, amateurs. And international affairs should never be run by gentlemen amateurs. Do you have any idea of what sort of place the world is becoming all around you? The days when you could just act out of your noble instincts, are over. Europe has become the arena of realpolitik, the politics of reality. If you like: real politics. What you need is not gentlemen politicians, but real ones.”
Lewis clearly identifies the sentimentality of those such as Lord Darlington and warns of its inability to effectively deal with the issues facing the world at the time. It is a sentimentality, however, that can only find full expression in the setting of a house such as this. It is not hard work and making difficult decisions in which these attendees are interested. A parliament would be the proper setting for that. Rather, the house is a place of magnanimity, where the kind of disagreements and arguments that must necessarily arise in a conference of “real politicians” would be considered by gentlemanly propriety to be distasteful and uncivil. We see, for example, that the evenings are spent in socializing and entertainment indistinguishable from the large dinner parties of the time. This is the kind of aristocratic entertainment which could only be done in a house.
If the house symbolizes the aristocratic way of life, then its purchase by Jack Lewis at the end of the film completely fulfills the ideas he had expressed in his speech. The time of the gentleman politician, and indeed, the time of the aristocracy in general, is over. The house is no longer home to a lordly gentleman with armies of servants at his disposal. It is now occupied by an American with quite a different world-view. The clash of cultures is gently illustrated as Lewis suggests to Stevens that the kitchen acquire an electric pop-up toaster. Stevens replies that it has always been tradition for the cook to prepare the toast in a particular way. Lewis is guided here by expediency and practical conclusions. Stevens on the other hand takes his bearings from tradition and history.
It cannot go unnoticed that Lewis is actively restoring the house to its former magnificence. He buys back artwork and furnishings which originally belonged to the house and he is cleaning and restoring the grand rooms which have fallen into disuse and neglect. Despite the heavy themes of regret and loss that run through the movie, this nevertheless strikes and unmistakably hopeful chord that something of that former way of life is worth preserving. One thinks that as long as houses such as this one still stand (2), the idea of the noble gentleman will never completely fade away.
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1. The other pivot is relationship between James Stevens and Mary Kenton, the housekeeper. Their love for each other, conveyed entirely through glances and possibly casual interactions is tragically never acknowledged because of Stevens’ single-minded dedication to his position, but that is the subject of another article.
2. It should be noted that in reality, the house in Remains of the Day is actually a compilation of several houses. One was used for the exterior, and several others were used to compose the interior. See the Making of documentary on the DVD release.
