WHAT exactly? Seems I've heard that expression before, but in what context I can't remember.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Remains of the Day
rockcairn69 — 14 years ago(April 10, 2011 08:31 PM)
WHAT exactly? Seems I've heard that expression before, but in what context I can't remember.
Somehow, though, I feel it quite succinetly sums up the whole story.
Does it?
"Go back to your oar, Forty One." -
clunybrown2011 — 14 years ago(June 15, 2011 07:19 PM)
Just finished watching this film this afternoon and was struck by some dialogue near the end of the film. SPOILER coming.
Miss Kenton and Stevens have met after several years at a seaside resort for tea. Afterward they are strolling on the busy promenade at dusk. Suddenly, the lights along the promenade come on and several people begin cheering, to which Miss Kenton says something to the effect of, "I'm not sure why people always cheer when the lights come on in the evening. I think I read somewhere that for most people the evening is the best part of the day," i.e., the remains of the day. -
cannonr — 14 years ago(June 24, 2011 08:42 PM)
Somehow i remember in some movie a butler saying something like "If you won't be needing me any more, sir, I'll take the remains of the day."
I had thought it was this movie, but I looked for Hopkins saying that and didn't see it.
So in answer I think the remains of the day are something a house servant has as time for themselves. -
KnowledgeIsLife — 14 years ago(June 25, 2011 12:38 PM)
The title sums it all. You should read the book, to really understand what it's all about.
It's quite similar to about Schmidt, about a man trying to find something of 'meaning' for his life, and at the end realizing that he must do all he can to accomplish as much as he can at the "remains of his day" - the ending days/years of his life.
The only difference between this and "About Schmidt" is that the protagonist in this film is very selfless why the protagonist in "About Schmidt" is very selfish. In the end, we realize an overabundance of either leads to an unfulfilling life, which is a dilemma both men face in the end. -
florentyna1972 — 14 years ago(October 16, 2011 10:30 AM)
Note that "some ppl think the evening is the best part of the day". Some do. Some do not. You decide.
That could be another double meaning also: if the last years of one's life could be considered as (potentially) the best, or not. -
AzaleaRose — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 07:28 PM)
It's actually a bit of an artifact title. In the book, after Mrs. Benn gets on the bus, Stevens meets a man who tells him that he should try looking forward rather be miserable because he's wasted his life. Upon hearing this, he resolves to "make the best of what remains of [his] day", meaning his life.
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Drooch — 11 years ago(August 18, 2014 10:37 PM)
Indeed, and this essential scene was shot for the film, but never used. The final script draft, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, stupidly omitted the most important scene in the story - on seeing this, Hopkins was incensed and insisted that it be included or he would walk. James Ivory shot it, but betrayed Hopkins by leaving it out of the edit. Now this almost-perfect film has no moment of revelation, no emotional release, and no relevance to the title, and entire point, of the original story.
You can see the scene on the deleted scenes of the Blu-ray/DVD. Or here: -
davide-cellai — 11 years ago(July 27, 2014 02:48 AM)
A hint is given in the final scene of the film (which I don't want to spoil).
In my opinion, this movie is all about the meaning of life: what do you live for? Are we giving ourselves to what fully accomplishes us or not? The "remains of the day" is what is left of a life approaching its end. The chances that one didn't take are long gone. What is left is memories, and maybe not even the courage to regret the lost occasions of life. Why then people look forward to the evening on a working day? The best of the day is gone, it is in the present moment that we say who we are, and the arrow of time points only in one direction.