Punctilious butler James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) and feisty housekeeper Sally Kenton (Emma Thompson) fall in love, but neither is prepared to reveal their true feelings. Meanwhile, as the events leading up to World War Two unfold, their boss Lord Darlington (James Fox) makes ill-advised contact with the Nazis...
DVD Extras:
Commentary by producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory and Emma Thompson, three featurettes, deleted scenes, theatrical trailer, filmographies.Paradoxically, while nothing much happens in this 1993 Merchant-Ivory production, the over-riding sense of regret about things left unsaid and undone is precisely what gives this truly adult drama its mournful resonance. The disc is superb: in particular, it's fascinating to note how the deleted scenes would have made certain themes more explicit and thus destroyed some of the film's mystique.
