8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.4 |
In post-World War I England, head butler Stevens has devoted his life entirely to service. With careful and unfailing devotion, he adheres to a system of old-fashioned propriety. His worldview is challenged and complicated by a vivacious housekeeper who falls in love with him and for whom he cares deeply, though he is unable to directly express it. Stevens must also quietly contend with the fact his master, Lord Darlington, is an influential, yet naïve gentleman under the spell of Nazi sympathizers.
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Christopher Reeve, Peter VaughanDrama | 100% |
Romance | 66% |
Period | 17% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
James Ivory's "The Remains of the Day" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Pictures UK. The bonus content on the disc includes three archival featurettes and a gallery of deleted scenes with optional commentary by the American director. In English, with optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Mr. Stevens
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, James Ivory's The Remains of the Day arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Pictures UK.
Remastered in 4K, the film looks quite wonderful in high-definition. Indeed, excluding some extremely light sharpening, depth and clarity are consistently very pleasing (examples of the sharpening can be seen in screencaptures #3 and 8). Depth is impressive as well, though depending on how light is captured by the camera occasionally minor fluctuations can be spotted. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Colors are stable, well saturated and natural. Overall image stability is excellent. Finally, it is easy to tell that debris, cuts, damage marks, scratches, and stains have been carefully removed. To sum it all, there is room for some minor improvements, but the current technical presentation of Remains of the Day should please fans of the film. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).
There are five standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit), French Dolby Digital 2.0, German Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0, and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Sony Pictures UK have included optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The lossless track should impress viewers that appreciate strong and intelligent mixing. To be perfectly clear, the lossless track is unlikely to test the muscles of your audio system, but it has a wonderful range of nuanced dynamics and reproduces seemingly casual sounds and noises with striking clarity. The dialog is stable and clean, but some of the accents are a bit thick and at times some exchanges are not easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.
Anthony Hopkins will always be remembered for his excellent performance in Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs, but he is at his very best in James Ivory's The Remains of the Day. Indeed, he is so good that it is impossible to imagine that The Remains of the Day would have been even remotely as effective as it is without him. The film has been remastered in 4K and looks quite wonderful on Blu-ray. If you do not yet have it on your collections, consider picking up Sony Pictures' release. It is Region-Free and very attractively priced. RECOMMENDED.
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