The Remains of the Day

If you liked this

Howards End1992

Same director, same year's leading pair, same interest in English class and repression — Hopkins and Thompson again circling each other under a very different roof, with equally exquisite restraint.

But It's a broader canvas with more characters and plot strands, so it lacks the single-minded, one-house intensity of Remains.

A Room with a View1986

Merchant Ivory at their most romantic and least melancholy — Edwardian England, forbidden feeling, gorgeous Florentine light, and a heroine who actually gets to choose herself.

But Warmer and funnier than Remains, so if you wanted more devastation, this will feel almost too kind.

Gosford Park2001

Robert Altman turns the country-house servant hierarchy into a murder mystery, and the below-stairs discipline and dignity will feel instantly familiar to anyone who loved Stevens's world.

But Ensemble overload — dozens of characters, upstairs and downstairs, means less time dwelling in any one person's inner life.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Remains of the Day

Cast

• 
  Anthony HopkinsJames Stevens
• 
  Emma ThompsonMiss Kenton
• 
  James FoxLord Darlington
• 
  Christopher ReeveJack Lewis
• 
  Hugh GrantReginald Cardinal
• 
  Peter VaughanWilliam Stevens
• 
  Ben ChaplinCharlie, Head Footman
• 
  Paula JacobsMrs. Mortimer, the cook
• 
  Patrick GodfreySpencer
• 
  Michael LonsdaleDupont D'Ivry
• 
  Rupert VansittartSir Geoffrey Wren
• 
  Tim Pigott-SmithThomas Benn

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