16
I saw the greatest old movie the other day that was recommended by a site that had a movie review in it. It was Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Christopher Reeve was also in it. Truth be told, his acting wasn’t that great, but I’ll give him credit, he certainly looked distinguished. Remains is set in an English manor house, both in the 1930s and the 1950s. When the characters are in the 1930’s, they spent a lot of time talking about averting the impending world war. The owner of the house believed he could negotiate with the Nazis, but that was obviously impossible. He didn’t know that, though, and he was branded a traitor for inadvertently being instrumental in aiding the war effort. His reputation was ruined.
While all that was going on upstairs, there was a secondary story about the staff and all they were going through. Anthony Hopkins played the uptight butler, who fell in love with the housekeeper, played by Emma Thompson, but could never tell her. She loved him, too, but was bound by the mores of the time and didn’t say anything. Eventually, she married a man she didn’t love in an effort to force his hand. It didn’t work and she left to the upcountry to live with her husband. Hopkins’ butler stayed in the manor house for many years, long after the original owner died. In the 1950’s, when Christopher Reeve’s character bought the house and saved it from foreclosure, the butler goes to the upcountry, hoping to lure the now-divorced housekeeper to come back and work with him again. She said no, because she had just found out her only daughter was pregnant. So, in the end, they parted, both sadder than ever because they knew it was official they would never be together.