The Remains of the Day (Soundtrack) 1993 – Richard Robbins

Posted on December 26, 2025 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

There is nothing more bare and shocking as this scene in cinema:

Sir Anthony Hopkins, as a guest on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), said that he got tips on how to play a butler from real-life butler Cyril Dickman, who served for fifty years at Buckingham Palace. The butler said there was nothing to being a butler, really, when you’re in the room, it should be even more empty.

In a recent post on Bedřich Smetana’s – Má vlast (Fatherland) No. 2, Vltava I mentioned how much the commencement of the piece reminded me of the soundtrack during the end credits in the movie The Remains of the Day. So today we turn to two pieces from the movie, specifically for the opening and closing credits. Whenever I hear this stirring music, I’m instantly transported back to scenes from this hauntingly beautiful film about unrequited love. The original score was composed by Richard Robbins (image inset). It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, but lost to Schindler’s List.

IMDB Storyline: Rule bound head butler Stevens’ (Sir Anthony Hopkins’) world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of housekeeper Miss Kenton (Dame Emma Thompson), who falls in love with him in pre-World War II Britain. The possibility of romance and his master’s cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

The Remains of the Day is an unforgettable tragedy of a man who pays the terrible price of denying his own feelings. It’s a masterpiece of understated emotion and the music captures the solemness and quaint beauty of love lingering so near yet so far. As someone described the music in the comments:
Sensitive, melancholic, lovely, magical, emotional and touching movie score , heartfeltly composed with longing and conflict. Another person added: Immersive, motoric, melancholy: brilliantly pulls the audience in and keeps them there, conveying the relentless rhythms of a well-run household resonating in the memory.