KAZUO ISHIGURO on The Remains of the Day | Books on Film | TIFF 2017

British novelist and 2017 Nobel Literature Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro visited TIFF Bell Lightbox for a post-screening discussion of the film adaptation of The Remains of the Day.
This talk was a part of the 2015 Books on Film series at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Hosted by CBC's Eleanor Wachtel, Books on Film is a series where book and film lovers come together to examine the art of adaptation.
tiff.net

[@Dextroyfuller]

I loved hearing his thought process on including that "my heart was breaking" line. It absolutely would have been out of place if he had put it anywhere else, but the actual placement - at the point where being locked out of love finally overtakes Stevens' self-denial - hit me as powerfully as Sir Ishiguro had intended. That kind of boldness and precision is something every writer should aspire to.

[@AiurMedia]

one of the most beautifully written novel i've ever read

[@scathatch]

Certainly a great novel.

[@SammieMousie]

Currently reading it now. Almost done with it and I do agree it really is beautifully written.

[@TheReluctantCoder]

Same ❤

[@user-iz5vm7ve8j]

The film was also brilliant.

[@hanijarjeess238]

I can't determine which I love much more the novel or the film of the remains... both of them sounded to me by the great words for "Khalil Gibran": "Between what is said and not meant, and what it meant & not said, most of love is lost” Thank you, Kazuo Ishiguro

[@myimorata7678]

To place the interior drama of the butler and the house staff of a wealthy family within the rise of Nazism was so simple, yet a stroke of genius. It was the "little job" set in the context of worldwide, cataclysmic events. Just amazing. And an enjoyable love story too. A well-nigh perfect novel.

[@celestialfix]

A great novel, and a beautifully filmed movie where every scene is like a Rembrandt painting. Congrats to the author on his well-deserved Nobel.

[@samanthajames8857]

Rembrandt might be stretching it, just a tad.

[@donstor1]

That would be subjective, so perhaps not so much of a stretch.

[@jubalcalif9100]

I heartily concur !

[@martymascarin486]

The final scene in the film: Mr Stevens closes the window, & there's a brief close-up of the frames of the window panes super-imposed on a mirrored image of Darlington Hall, suggesting a prison Mr Stevens is content and doomed to occupy; as the camera pulls gently away, composer Richard Robbins brings in flutes principally, slowly building to a muted crescendo, conjuring an image of something fleeting, like autumn leaves blowing in the wind, and Mr Stevens has allowed love to pass through his fingers, much like the blowing leaves. The tragedy of the film, so repressed are his emotions. The POV pulls back further, revealing the hugeness of Darlington Hall, surrounded by beautiful verdant grounds, the manison having seen better days, as if time is passing it by, much like Mr Stevens. The heart of the film. Very affecting.

[@thewealthofnations4827]

Letting the pigeon out was a scene where after all is said and done his life is probably full of domestic moments like that that are in some ways fun and exciting in their own way. Yes, he missed out on opportunities for love but he would have broken the rules he set out multiple times in the film about not getting involved with colleagues. It's the same thing today when your average joe goes to work, it's not always pretty mixing work and pleasure. He enjoyed a professional relationship with a woman and they both maintained their dignity at work, perhaps there could have been a love match there but that can be said of many relationships. She chose a different life with the free spirit that didn't live up to the dreams he sold to her. She has regrets. He has regrets. We all have regrets. I don't know which is the greater tragedy, not taking Miss Kenton, or not speaking when he could answer those three questions he was asked, or not speaking up for the two Jewish girls. It's all tragic but if it wasn't so tragic perhaps none of us watching the film would truly understand how dangerous it is to not allow ourselves to feel. to not feel love, pain, grief. All I wanted was for Mr Stevens to drop just one tear from his eye as those lights came on and everyone cheered. I wanted it to fall at least on his right eye that was turned from her and she wouldn't be able to see it fall from his face. But all I got was tears that welled in his eyes when he realised his second chance was truly gone. I got the same feelings at the end of this film that I had with the ending of the film LA LA Land. It was the pain of what might of been for both people, and the harsh reality that is having many choices in life, but in the end, there is only one path we can take. We can't go back in time, we can't have a second chance, we have only one. Those were the tears on her face as she left in the bus, the reality that she can't live two lives, that she had to let go again of something good, for something better, a life with her new granddaughter and a renewed love for her husband.

[@jayeevee1693]

me and my wife during the film... "just tell her for gods sake"! At the end in the rain! wow what a film...

[@bernicerogers2383]

He probably wanted to but considered it honourable not to as she had found happiness and was finally settled as a married woman.

[@diegobarreto8662]

I like the simplicity of this man

[@jubalcalif9100]

I certainly have a notion to second THAT emotion !

[@kawyachandrasekara3959]

It is more than a story, couldn't stop reading even for a second until the end. I couldn't just imagine how the writer imagine the story so excessively and emotionally. It is just amazing. I felt as if Mr. Stevens himself narrated the story by himself and that the characters were not at all fictional, but nonetheless, perfectly real. The story line of the novel perfectly goes on par with the contemporary society and incidents.

[@user-wf8eo9xn6y]

A brilliant writer; certainly deserves 2015 Nobel prize for literature.

[@benrezenarosa3679]

2017

[@SpiredRapidity]

An entirely brilliant writer, and an entirely brilliant mind. Always fascinated when he talks

[@mayus9875]

Outstanding literary works and dramatic performances move people's hearts because they find an appropriate name or definition for the unspeakable embraced of the human heart.

[@mizfrenchtwist]

a wonderful piece of work , the nobel ....well deserved . i can't wait to attend a lecture .................

[@megatreinapictures2717]

Thank you for the wonderful discourse, it was just what I wanted to see after reading the book. Now to watching the film!

[@hanishrahane2519]

It's always great to hear him speak. But everything is there in the book.. a masterpiece 🤘🙌

[@marryhouse1983]

This book is about the inner discourse of one’s value of life, one’s redemption and contemplation of life. Sadly the questions were about Anthony Hopkins ect... who is no doubt a great actor still... Ishiguro Kazuo is one of the novelist who I feel most amiable, whose philosophy I can associate with.

[@salvadorealiberto]

The novel reminds me of some of James Hilton's brilliant work, namely Random Harvest. I am very grateful to Mr. Ishiguro for his brilliant offering.

[@bethelshiloh]

The fact that you were the one who wrote the insight of this stoic English characteristic fascinates me. Having that heritage myself, I’ve had to learn to learn how to open up emotionally without letting my emotions rule me. I try to be led by Spirit and Truth without totally oppressing myself emotionally. It’s tricky. At 70, I am still working on learning how to walk the tight rope. Thank you for the book . Thank you for this interview.

[@levison7935]

I think Ishiguro being brought up with East Asian parents (as l was) probably identified with the British sense of keeping the stiff upper lip. In many Asian cultures emotions are not demonstrated as they are in Latin or Western culture and is often suppressed. Revealing too much can be seen as being weak and undignified. I feel with globalisation and the internet, this is something that is gradually changing though.

[@jonharrison9222]

Spirit and Truth are religious concepts and therefore nebulous at best.

[@j.p.kempkes5103]

when informed that he won the Nobel, KI's first response was to feel honored that he succeeded Dylan. KI was a long hair as a youth and totally into Dylan and pop music...

[@greg1mcintosh844]

He's still very young. He must have been very young when he wrote Remains of the Day. Amazing prodigy!

[@kelman727]

Greg1 McIntosh He’s nearly at the state pension age.

[@cybersphere]

He's 65, but could pass for 45

[@Catherine_Kate]

No one has a prodigious grasp on human emotion... it gets better with age though

[@hasselett]

Lol, very young? The guy's at a retirement age! He's old if anything.

[@karthikmunishamaiah2689]

Greg1 McIntosh He says in the video that he was in his 30’s

[@luciabraithwaite3446]

This novel and A many splendid thing are the most beautifully written novels I have ever read.

[@abcxyz8787]

A brilliant book and movie! One of my favorites.

[@mstrsims2]

thank you for posting. good interview. I do adaptations (not for film) and I like the idea that a novel turned into a film, or a play can not be an exact duplication. It is a different medium and must be accepted as such.

[@tgfitzgerald]

"The Shining" leapt immediately to mind as another example of very different but equally great book/ film adaptation.

[@julie8014]

a great novel n i luv it so much

[@bethelshiloh]

The story is absolutely relevant. People can pretend they are no longer under this oppression, but they so are.

[@Manima108]

I’m in university, and I feel I’m under this oppression. I couldn’t have read this novel at a better time.

[@TheBkebede]

A great gift , both the movie (thanks to the brilliant A Hopkins and E Thompson acting skills ) and the novel are true products of love, love for creativity, keeping us all at the center of the inquiry. the movie can be enjoyed more when complemented with the movie Amadeus, a great story yet antithesis of The Remains of the Day , in particular, Steven vs. W G A Mozart. What is in the title ? why the Remains of the Day?

[@howwwwwyyyyy]

As soon as I saw this film I immediately looked to finding the book,I can't help but think that with a different title the film might have caught a bigger audience.

[@frankperdue6585]

When that movie came out... I was with my girlfriend at the time and I cried like a baby. I have since got a masters degree in computer science.... BUT I am now a Houseman, under a Butler. We all know our calling.

[@chatty5xg]

So he said it! He's right and I agree with him. There's a thin line between watching a film and reading a book. Novels should not be compared to its film adaptation. A book ahould be enjoyed for its prose and films should be enjoyed as what they are.

[@bencyber8595]

brighter slightly , thank you. 😊

[@TheOverlordOfProcrastination]

I must read the book, the film is a personal favourite.

[@borismoof6282]

Very interesting. Learned a fair bit about writing novels and also screen plays.

[@cagey300]

boris moof i

[@lakshmir8487]

Happy birthday

[@Cotictimmy]

Great interview! I like the comment about making a film from a novel and seeing the novel as 'raw material for a new work of art'. If the conference in the film had been the original 1923 one, I might have cast Pat Hingle (of The Grifters) as Mr. Lewis. PS.

[@Flyingtart]

I cried like a little bitch by the time I finished reading.

[@russianbear54]

I didn't read the book, but watched the movie yesterday, and though I didn't weep, I felt somewhat upset because Stevens' pride and shyness(which I can relate to) granted him decades of celibacy...

[@paulchen355]

I was reading it out loud, but when getting to the end I couldn't proceed. 🤣😂 too poignant

[@thewealthofnations4827]

I think the whole point of the book is that it's ok to cry like a little bitch.

[@melissaholman2466]

I just watched the movie and I felt so heartbroken at the end. Now I can’t get the characters out of my head so I started reading the book.

[@Flyingtart]

@@melissaholman2466 Oh the movie has nothing on the book feelsy-wise, good luck surviving it.

[@mizfrenchtwist]

to me , the film was about mr. stevens's mistaken nobility of self denial / self sacrifice , for some greater cause . he thought himself to be above the human condition . everything he believed in and held dear , in the end , he found to be untrue..............even his parentage..............his , was a life wasted.....

[@argentbeard5583]

The Remains of the Day contains a much darker secret about Mr. Stevens which is hinted at in the book. His being an unreliable narrator helps to mask the mystery, but not quite.

[@kelman727]

Argent Beard Not unreliable in the traditional sense. He tells you what he saw, what he did not, and he never lies. What he takes from it is where he veers off - so starkly it’s easy for the reader to follow. All they have to do is draw the opposite conclusion to Stevens.

[@oliverfarahmand222]

What is this darker secret?

[@Jelk243i]

Spy?

[@SearchIndex]

the age old issue of military bearing

[@timcoleman3784]

"hi i don't have a question, i just want to talk for a few minutes and waste everyone's time showing how clever i am?"

[@earthumbrella]

I saw this as a samurai movie.

[@johnturnbull3361]

I can never understand why they never used the actual mansion where this based on a true storey took place,in the 1930s the german ambassador VON RIBBENTROP visited england and he was the guest of lord londonderry of wynyard hall which is part of the wynyard estate a few miles to the north of darlington in county durham in the north east of england. The hall was and still is a hotel at the time this film was made so they would not have had a problem using it for the purpose of the production and because in the film the house they used was badminton hall and was called Darlington hall in the film and also as wynyard hall is very near to the town of darlington! it cant be a coincidence that they just dreamed up the name. I wonder if anthony hopkins new this??? regards J.T. at 73!

[@nekozombie]

49:39 what the hell are you saying? :o it's perfectly possible even in his circumstances

[@scathatch]

Such an interesting man and a wonderful novelist. However, his comment re his memory operating in static 'tableau' images is interesting. My memory doesn't work in 'tableaus'. My memory is definitely in moving pictures sometimes static, but far more frequently moving scenes. but heh! we're all different.

[@nicolesong6199]

Christo. This man's pent up. He just needs to bone. Edit: 4 weeks after the comment was made........ I still watched this interview on 1.5x. But it was a really good interview

[@charleboismike536]

About this film. There is something I can’t get it! In the trailer, some things will changes his life. But I don’t! I can understand about the emotions, love, I know Anthony keep his feelings but...?

[@harlhequim]

Love film and novel. About the interviewer, I was wondering, why in an intellectual topic like this, the interviewer goes into the realm of the intangible on things that can go either way and expect a definite answer. Usually with smart sounding answers, the subject goes along so not to be disagreable, instead of asking "what the hell are you talking about"

[@jonharrison9222]

Because asking questions is what interviewers do.

[@jackmace6531]

Why is everyone always interrupting this dude in interviews?

[@royklopfenstein5278]

Audio?

[@whatsthatnoise5955]

No. But thanks for asking

[@jadegina3735]

49:00

[@Cotictimmy]

Looks like the interview has a bus to catch. 😜

[@nicolesong6199]

my god....

[@jadegina3735]

1:00

[@yuyaogawa658]

12:33

[@alirupendiperudin2073]

Fendi412

[@lawnmower4191]

I loved Remains of the Day- the book and the movie. I just didn't get the Tree of Life. Emotions in the absence of a gripping plot just don't work for me.

[@kelman727]

Lawn Mower Ishiguro didn’t write The Tree of Life.

[@isaacanwarwatts8844]

Lmao

[@OMAR-vq3yb]

I like apples, but tuna fish cans are difficult to open

[@harrytd]

And now so many of us live like Stevens in these last two years. We have abdicated responsibility for our morality and conscience to global corporate employers that insist we believe in clear untruths about ourselves.

[@niallkennedy23]

well said. my conscience was pricked but my skin was not. it troubled me deeply how cheaply some were sold. However, we do now seem to be leaving the trees in the distance and more people are beginning to see the forest.

[@jonharrison9222]

@@niallkennedy23 Anti vaxxers. So proud, so deluded.

[@arunavadasgupta2147]

I Also Used Note Book And Write My Childhood Memories Also Memories During My Service Carrier Of 40 Yta In Corporate

[@laureen1436]

The best scene of the novel gets cut in this film and the remains of the day is lost. Read the novel. Don't bother with the movie. OR the movie could be a stand alone as long as it uses a different title since the film does not relate to the novel's title.

[@nc3music920]

The movie is a masterpiece obviously but I found myself laughing during the book on a few occasions at just how utterly ridiculous Stevens was. Obviously its tragic and heartbreaking but I cant help but laugh at what a goof he is too, tying himself up in knots with all his mental gymnastics over the most trivial things

[@Jikaninja]

English Butler……Traditional Japanese Samurai to their lords……English custom……Bushido……The remains of the day of the British empire…..Imperial Japanese empire or traditional Japanese culture which fading to the sunset….a English born Japanese writer…..probably struggled between 2 very dominant culture within himself all his life…..just saying…….Lord Darlington:” we call it honor!” Umm…..honor, you says eh! Bushido like to talk about what again?

[@felicitytoad]

👽👾

[@jackmace6531]

God this woman constantly interrupts Kazuo it’s so frustrating

[@drmilimiliy9343]

Hopkins is great actor. But IMHO he is not the right choice for this role, not because of his hunchback etc but because the look in his eyes. That look is too sharp, too knowing and too shrewd to play Mr Stevens. Having read the book, I pictured in my mind Mr Stevens as some who is tragically earnest, eager to serve and possess none of the shrewdness which Hopkins cannot help showing. I mean, if only he was nearly as worldly! Then we wouldn't have a story.

[@davidcopson5800]

What hunchback? Who do you think he is, Quasimodo or Richard III?

[@listenerab]

A hymn to feudalism.

[@jonharrison9222]

It’s the opposite.

[@paritoshoza803]

Many of the comments relate to the movie . The last hour of the (audiobook) book would have made a good short story. The other seven hours are boring. The main character is dull and has no psycological appeal. D'ont get the releveance of this book to todays world at all.

[@davidcopson5800]

It's relevance is to humanity, which is timeless.

[@HkFinn83]

Reread it when you’re older, and have realized that you too are a butler

Kazuo Ishiguro belies the myth that foreigners cannot become fully English.

[@kelman727]

JP VOGEL Because he isn’t a ‘foreigner.’

[@lulun3724]

JP Vogel, I disagree, it’s a stereotype, we fit somewhere if we are lucky

[@umarr6221]

His book was more English than English.

[@tomspice73]

@@kelman727 no, hé is your typical British face and character

[@kelman727]

e d If you’d read what you were replying to you may have seen why your post was pointless.

[@jonspengler5891]

The guy interviewing is so annoying

[@user-qr4ff9sc1o]

I was in Japan for 25 years and they never showed emotion. I like to ask him what he thinks about it not just about a butler but how about your zombie country?!

[@OBGynKenobi]

I wonder, how much is the author trying to interject japanese culture of emotional repression and self denial in the service of others.

[@jonharrison9222]

You don’t know very much about either England or Ishiguro, one assumes.

[@OBGynKenobi]

@@jonharrison9222 yes, one does assume old boy.

[@marriechrissievalley4650]

Hopkins was the worst actor to pick, with his hunchback, and crude impolite appearance, nobody would have employed him as a butler in reality, neither Stevens father, who had the same rough composition. Hugh Grant should have played it, he would have had the right accent for it as well.

[@JRRLewis]

I don't care what Anthony Hopkins looked like or how he stood. He put in one of the greatest and most nuanced performances in film history in The Remains of the Day, and he made the part genuine and believable on an emotional level with layers and depth. He said so much with just minor changes in his expression. This was the best performance of his distinguished career, as Miss Kenton was the best of Emma Thompson's career.

[@scotthazlewood9123]

@@JRRLewis Completely agree....very well said. Incredible ensemble/team in front and behind the cameras as well.

[@SandWolf_]

What the hell even is this take...

[@the_famous_reply_guy]

Because you fancy Huge Grunt! Lol

[@drmilimiliy9343]

Hopkins is great actor. But he is just not right for this role, not because of his hunchback etc but because the look in his eyes. That look is too sharp, too knowing and too shrewd to play Mr Stevens. Having read the book, I pictured in my mind Mr Stevens as tragically earnest, eager to serve and possess none of the shrewdness which Hopkins cannot help showing. I mean, if only he was nearly as sharp! Then we wouldnt have a story.