Love and Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day' Page #5

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I like a good, clean fight.

Giving as good as one gets, what?

I have the greatest respect

for the English. I love it here.

My family brought us here as kids,

so I feel at home.

Anyway, thank you.

Excuse me.

You all right?

Yes, perfect, my lord.

You coming down

with a cold or something?

It's been a long day.

It's been a hard day for both of us.

Well done.

My condolences.

It was a stroke. A severe stroke.

He wouldn't have suffered much pain.

Thank you for telling me.

There's a distinguished foreign

gentleman in the billiard room...

...in need of attention.

Urgent?

His feet.

Feet?

- I'll take you to him.

- Lf it's urgent.

It is urgent.

The gentleman is in pain.

My condolences.

Thank you. That is most kind of you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Stevens.

I'm hoping there's a letter for me.

- I'll just check for you, sir.

- James Stevens.

- I'd like two apples, please.

- There you are, Mr. Stevens.

- You are touring in these parts?

- I'm on my way to Clevedon.

- How much is that?

- That'll be threepence, please.

And you'd be coming from...?

- Oxfordshire.

- Whereabouts?

- Sorry?

- Whereabouts in Oxfordshire?

Darlington.

That rings a bell. Wasn't there

a Lord Darlington? Some sort...

...of Nazi, got us in the war?

I'm the butler there,

and my employer...

...is Mr. Lewis, an American gentleman.

I didn't know the former owner.

Your change.

I should be glad to meet you at the

Sea View Hotel, opposite the pier.

We'll have such a lot to talk about,

and I'll have many questions.

Ex cept for you, I've lost touch with

all our friends at Darlington Hall.

But that's no wonder.

It was long ago and a lot

has happened in between.

Who could keep track of all the people

His Lordship once employed?

My lord, you rang?

- Have the young German ladies arrived?

- They're outside.

I'd like to say hello to them,

practise my German.

- They do speak excellent English.

- Good. Well, ask them to come in.

This is Elsa and this is Irma.

I'm asking about their journey.

It was long, my lord.

I asked if they like the weather.

We are grateful to you, my lord,

for letting us come here.

Our parents are very grateful.

Not at all.

Miss Kenton will look after you.

- Won't you?

- Indeed, my lord.

Welcome to Darlington Hall.

- Thank you, my lord.

- Thank you, my lord.

Will there be anything else?

Sir Geoffrey.

Good to see you.

How do you do?

Well, come in.

- Mr. Benn.

- Mr. Stevens.

Gentlemen, if you'd like to wait

here for a while.

- Aren't you still at Stanton Lacey?

- I'm with Sir Geoffrey now.

- You haven't changed one bit.

- I'll let you get on.

- Perhaps we'll meet later.

- I hope so.

But, gentlemen, you speak of Jews

and Gypsies, Negroes and so forth.

But one has to regard the racial

laws of the Fascists...

...as a sanitary measure,

much overdue, in my opinion.

Imagine trying to enforce

such a rule in this country...

You cannot run a country

without a penal system.

Here we call them prisons. There,

they call them concentration camps.

Is there any meat

of any kind in this soup?

I think it's mushroom stock, sir.

Mushroom ends and skins,

onion and celery. No meat at all.

Cold water, and then cook adds sherry.

I hear you have a Labour fellow

from your constituency.

Over there, they've got rid of

all that trade union rubbish.

Believe me, no workers strike

in Germany.

And everyone's kept in line.

No wonder this country

is going down the drain.

It is internally diseased.

I think there may be butter

in the croutons. Do you know?

I'm afraid there may be.

You've made a cozy little nest here.

Seems to me you must be

a well-contented man.

In my philosophy, Mr. Benn...

...a man cannot call himself

well-contented...

...until he has done all he can...

...to be of service to his employer.

This assumes that one's employer...

...is a superior person

not only in rank or wealth...

...but in moral stature.

And in your opinion, what's going on

up there has "moral stature"?

I wish I could be sure.

But I'm not.

I've heard some very fishy things.

Very fishy.

I hear nothing.

Listen.

That's so touching, isn't it?

To listen to the gentlemen

would distract me from my work.

It's fresh soda.

Would you be joining us?

Thank you, but it's very late

and I have an early start.

Good night.

- Good night, Mr. Stevens.

- Good night, Miss Kenton.

Good-looking woman.

It was never the same

after she left Stanton Lacey.

I handed in my own notice

six months later.

I'd be lost without her.

A first-rate housekeeper

is essential in a house like this...

...where great affairs are decided

between these walls.

- Good morning.

- My lord.

"We do the Jews no injustice when we

say that the revelation of Christ...

... is something incomprehensible

and hateful to them.

Though He apparently sprang

from their midst...

... He embodies the negation of their

whole nature.

The Jews are far more sensitive

about this than we are.

This demonstration of the cleft that

separates us Europeans from the Jew...

... is not given in order

to let religious prejudice...

... with its dangerous bias,

settle the matter...

... but because the perception of

two fundamentally different natures...

... reveals a real gulf."

We have some refugee girls

on the staff now, I believe.

We do.

Two housemaids, Elsa and Irma.

You'll have to let them go,

I'm afraid.

Let them go, my lord?

It's regrettable,

but we have no choice.

You must see the whole thing

in context.

I have the well-being

of my guests to consider.

May I say...

...they work extremely well.

They're intelligent, polite

and very clean.

I'm sorry, but I've looked

into this matter very carefully.

There are larger issues at stake.

I'm sorry, but there it is.

They're Jews.

Yes, my lord.

I'm amazed you can stand

there as if...

...discussing old...

...you were discussing orders

for the larder. I can't believe it!

Elsa and Irma are to be dismissed

because they're Jewish?

His Lordship has decided. There's

nothing for you and I to discuss.

Without work, they could be

sent back to Germany.

It is out of our hands.

I tell you, if you dismiss my girls

tomorrow, it will be wrong!

A sin, as any sin ever was one!

There are many things you and I

don't understand in this world.

His Lordship understands fully and has

studied the larger issues at stake...

...concerning, say...

...the nature of Jewry.

I warn you...

...if those girls go...

...I shall leave this house.

Please.

These references,

I have to tell you...

...are quite reserved.

Why did you leave

your last employment?

- They didn't want me anymore.

- Why not?

I don't know.

They just didn't want me anymore.

They say she works well.

Would you please wait outside?

- She's unsuitable.

- Not at all. I want her.

- She'll be under my supervision.

- She's not suitable.

She'll do well. I'll see to it.

Well, then, it is entirely

your responsibility.

Weren't you leaving

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