- Description
Mr Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), the long-time butler at Darlington Hall, is a man who has devoted his entire life to serving his master. When the estate gets a new owner, Stevens solves the problem of staff shortages by breaking up with a woman who has worked at Darlington for many years and with whom he had a special relationship... Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) entered Lord Darlington's service in the early 1930s with the best of references. The hierarchy of relationships among the servants and Mr Stevens's perfect reserve prevented any intimacy, but over the years their relationship underwent a strange development and matured into a mutual, though never acknowledged, love. Absolute devotion to the interests of the service always took precedence. Nevertheless, Mr Stevens and Miss Kenton spent years in perfect harmony, witnessing history pass through their house when Lord Darlington convened an international conference on the position of Germany. They also witnessed their master, without knowing it, slowly becoming a ‘traitor’ to England. But then Miss Kenton got married and left Darlington Hall. Mr Stevens, however, never forgot this exceptional woman in his life, and when the wealthy American Scott bought Lord Darlington's estate, he set off straight for her...
