Object #7 - Paving Stone - The Remains of the Day (1993)

Dir. James Ivory

Eddie Izzard has a fantastic bit about the difference between American and British films, link here. It's hysterically funny, and the film he has in his head as he describes British drama films, and I'm almost sure of this, is Remains of the Day. With that "Oh, I'm so sorry...I, oh", type approach to drama, where everything is unsaid, and under the surface. 

The paving stone in Remains of the Day, and I'm being literal here, an actual paving stone, leads to this type of drama between our protagonist in the film, the head butler Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), and his aging father (Peter Vaughn). Relatively early in the film, Stevens Snr. is carrying some tea, quite shakily, to some important guests in the patio of Lord Darlington's (James Fox) estate. He trips over a paving stone, spilling the contents of the tray everywhere. Darlington and his guests rush over to help him, as does Stevens. No problem you'd think, tripping happens.

Oh no. This is upper-class Britain, the late 1930's/early 1940's. This trip hold far more subtext. It implies that the staff of Darlington House aren't fit for they job, embarrassing Darlington in front of important guests. It causes Stevens Snr. to begin judging his own capabilities in his late age, as we see him later in the film stepping on the paving stone, searching for any evidence of wonkiness. For Stevens Jr., this is highly embarrassing, not only have one of his staff failed in their duties, they've done it in a disparaging way to his employer, Darlington. It's also affected his relationship with Darlington as it appears that Stevens is showing favouritism to his father over a more fit and able staff member. And of course it impacts Stevens' relationship with his own father, cold and distant already to say the least. 

We see the ramifications of this last relationship in this scene. It's curt, beginning with small talk about how much sleep his father has had, before quickly reaching the crux of the matter. 

Stevens: I'll come straight to the point.

Stevens Snr.: Do. Some of us have got work to be getting on with. 

Stevens Snr. is being relegated to less straining duties, he's no longer allowed to carry trays for fear of further embarrassment in later, important meetings at the house. It's the way it's said more than anything, Stevens throughout the film calls his father, well, just that, 'Father'. 

Stevens: Because of Father's accident, you no longer wait a table.

Stevens Snr.: [turning to his son angrily} I've-. [Reigns in his anger] I've waited a table, every day, for the last fifty-four years. 

Stevens continues, telling him the further lack of responsibilities he now has. His father blames the crookedness of the paving stones, he won't accept the fact that he tripped due to his age. Shifting the blame to his son, telling him to fix them before any future accidents. Subtext, subtext, subtext. This scene is dripping with it. Not only of their distant relationship but of the culture of the time. Their outfits, the way Stevens calls his father, the importance of pretense and stiff-upper-lip over all.

I've only focused on the father-son relationship but the same occurs throughout the film between Stevens and Miss. Kenton (Emma Thompson), and this is the true emotional, or rather the restrained emotional, center-piece of the film. The father-son relationship if important however for details like this that tell us more about Stevens subconsciously. Stevens Snr.'s death later in the film is handled with a similar lack of emotion, as Stevens continues with the vital job at hand before attending to his own father. It's heartbreaking, as is his relationship with Miss.Kenton. They clearly have an attraction to one another, but Stevens can't allow himself to act on it, as it isn't 'proper' for a man in his position, and as it would distract him from his duties. Their lives move on, Miss.Kenton becomes married and pregnant, and in their eventual reunion we feel the ghost of another life, possibly not a better life, but a life the two of them truly wanted. Miss.Kenton clearly wanted it more, taking the initiative throughout the film, but Stevens couldn't move beyond his duties and the culture of the time to go with his heart.

With his father he does the same, acting as the Head Butler more than a son. But the tragedy is that his father wouldn't have it any other way either. They are both men of their time. We know that Stevens does care, he does feel. Hopkins conveys this so well in the contrast between Stevens in 'work-mode', and Stevens when emotionally bothered - the slowness of his movements, the elsewhere look on his face, some clumsiness. It's a more subtle acting but nonetheless powerful. The paving stone then acts as our window into this behaviour, of both Stevens and his father, by setting events in motion that impact their relationship for the remainder of the film. It's a beautifully melancholic film, nominated for eight Oscars but beaten by Speilberg's Schindler's List, but what are Oscars at the end of the day? Both films are superb, and both have objects that symbolise far more than their worth. As with almost all of the films I write about on this blog, please do watch this film if you find the time, I very much doubt you'll regret it.