The Big Picture

• Christopher Reeve was more proud of his role in The Remains of the Day than he was Superman.
• The Remains of the Day explored passion and loyalty in 1930s Britain amidst the rise of the Nazi party.
• Though brief, Reeve's performance in The Remains of the Day showed a different side of him and was critically acclaimed.

Beloved Hollywood actor Christopher Reeve is mostly remembered for not only playing Superman in four films, but for setting the gold standard for the iconic comic book character on-screen. By playing Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent in the late '70s and '80s, Reeve brought life to one of the greatest fictional American heroes of all time, becoming integral to how we think of the character.

However, in an interview with Variety following the Sundance release of the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, one of Reeve's children, Will Reeve, revealed that his father wasn't necessarily as proud as one might think of basically becoming synonymous with Superman. Not that he didn't like playing the part of the flying superhero created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, mind you. He simply preferred his role in another movie: a now less remembered period piece titled The Remains of the Day.

What Is 'The Remains of the Day' About?

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story focuses on the actor's career and the 1995 fall from a horse that rendered him paralyzed from the waist down. The chat, though, veered into other topics, including which of the actor's many roles is the most underestimated. This brought forth a memory of a movie theater in the children's hometown of Bedford, New York, that asked to do a showing of one of Reeve's movies. Will Reeve said that he agreed to the request, but refused to go with Superman. Instead, he picked 1993's The Remains of the Day.

"He was so proud of his role in that movie. It’s not a big role. It’s an important role in the film. He got to show a completely different side of himself," he told Variety. "I knew how proud he was of that. Not that he wasn’t proud of Superman... But if he were here, he wouldn’t choose Superman, he’d choose Remains of the Day. I don’t think about the Superman films as much as I do about the swings he took beyond this larger-than-life role."

Based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, who also penned the book that inspired the 2010 Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield sci-fi drama Never Let Me Go, James Ivory's The Remains of the Day is an exploration of passion and loyalty under servitude. Known for beloved period pieces such as Howard's End and A Room with a View, the director turns his eyes to 1930s Britain and the aristocracy's close ties to the German Nazi party. The screenplay, written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, focuses on an extremely work-oriented butler, played by Anthony Hopkins, keeping up with his duties even as his employer falls further and further in love with Nazi ideas. Between public events and secretive meetings with German officials, Hopkins' Mr. Stevens also falls in love with the manor's housekeeper, Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), but his dedication to his job and the notions of propriety that come with it prevent him from acting on his feelings.

Having already worked with Ivory in 1984's The Bostonians, based on the Henry James classic, Reeve appears in The Remains of the Day as an American congressman who is invited to Lord Darlington's (James Fox) estate for one of the many meetings attended by English, French, and, of course, German authorities. Unlike Darlington, Congressman Lewis doesn't see things such as the German rearmament and the Nazi's persecution of Jewish citizens with kind eyes. As the French ambassador played by Michael Lonsdale slowly becomes favorable to Germany simply through Lord Darlington's — and, of course, Mr. Stevens' — warm welcome, Lewis stands his ground and accuses the English lords of being nothing but amateurs when it comes to politics. Later, after Darlington's fall into disgrace and subsequent death, the congressman also buys the estate, becoming Mr. Stevens' new boss.

Christopher Reeve's Performance Is Brief But Powerful

Now, The Remains of the Day is a beautiful, delicate, and more than a little tragic film that any actor should be proud of being part of. However, Reeve's role in the movie isn't exactly what you would call memorable. It is important, for sure, but only as far as it serves as a counterpoint to Lord Darlington's worldviews. When Lewis takes over Darlington Hall, it is akin to American ideology arriving in Britain at the end of the war, putting an end to a certain mindset that allowed for the blossoming of Nazi sympathies. His takeover of the estate is a takeover of an entire country. But, as Mr. Stevens' continuous work in the household indicates there is only so far that this ideological shift may go.

But while Reeve's Lewis represents a lot in the story, he doesn't actually appear much in the film. When it comes to screentime, Reeve appears for a maximum of half an hour in the picture. Make no mistake, Reeve delivers an excellent performance, but there just isn't much to work with in terms of character examination or development. As stated in the previous paragraph, Congressman Lewis is more of an idea than he is a fully-fledged person. He delivers a speech at the dinner table, he talks to the French ambassador about the dangers of supporting Germany, he chats with Mr. Stevens about changes that need to be made to the household, and that's about it. However, it does enable Christopher Reeve to show a side of himself we haven't seen as much in film.

So why was Christopher Reeve so proud of this role? His son gives us some clues in the Variety interview, saying that Reeve was proud of playing such an important part in Ivory's film and that he got to show a different side of himself. And, indeed, the Christopher Reeve that we see in The Remains of the Day is far from the action hero of Superman or the heartthrob of The Bostonians. Instead, he's a seasoned politician, a man with no time for nonsense who isn't afraid to stand his ground. It's definitely not what comes to mind when we first think of Reeve, and thus it is a role that allowed him to show some range, to make it clear that he was so much more than just a pretty face with an enviable physique.

‘The Remains of the Day’ Was Nominated for Many Oscars

There's also the fact that The Remains of the Day was also a critically acclaimed, award-nominated movie at the time of its release. Though it's not the most remembered '90s period drama, as it was lost in the public consciousness to classics like Sense and Sensibility and The Piano, it was far from overlooked when it first came out. Roger Ebert gave it four and a half stars, and the movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Remains of the Day becomes sort of a promise and a springboard for a renewed career that could have been. It's a movie that shows an actor ready for new challenges, ready to take on opportunities that we sure wish we could've seen.

The Remains of the Day is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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