Merchant Ivory's extravagant production design enhances this adaptation of the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. A butler (Anthony Hopkins) who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years following World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty has been. The arrival of a new housekeeper (Emma Thompson) brings into question the possibility of romance and the butler's employer's ties with the Nazis, which tests the butler's steely facade.