CINÉ LUMIÈRE
17 Queensberry Place
London SW7 2DT
On the 30th anniversary of The Remains of the Day, Costume Designer Jenny Beavan and John Bright, founder of Cosprop, will join us in a Q&A with Keith Lockwick to talk about the making of the film, creating its costumes and partnering on so many of the iconic Merchant Ivory productions.
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
dir: James Ivory
with Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve, Hugh Grant
UK/US | 1993 | 134 min | col
In English, German and French with English subtitles
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel by the same title, The Remains of the Day narrates the life of Stevens, a proud, self-sacrificing and rigidly duty-bound butler, from his own point of view. Delving in his tragic self-delusion, the stiff relations between social classes and sacrificed lives of servants, in a time where newspapers were ironed, the film jumps back and forth in time between the years before and after World War II. The magnificent performances are enhanced by the clever direction of Ivory and the costumes by Jenny Beavan and John Bright are as perfect as the butler Stevens aspires to be.
ABOUT JENNY BEAVAN, OBE
With a career spanning over 30 years, Jenny Beavan is one of the most established costume designers with three Academy Awards and four BAFTAs to her credit, among several other awards and nominations. From period perfection in some of the Merchant Ivory productions (Room with a View or The Bostonians among others) to wild post-apocalypse in Mad Max: Fury Road or the unclassifiable Cruella, Jenny has worked with the most wide variety of genres and periods in film.
Her work in television includes The Cranford Chronicles, Mountbatten – The Last Viceroy, as well as Byron and Emma, RTS TV and EMMY Awards for Best Costume Design, respectively .
Jenny’s costume design work includes theatre collaborations with Robert Altman (Resurrection Blues), Jonathan Taylor (Listen to the Music, Deranged Songs) and Howard Davies (The House of Special Purpose, The Talking Cure, Outskirts, Breath of Life and Private Lives, which won her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design).
In recognition for her work on film, television and theatre she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.
ABOUT JOHN BRIGHT
As one of the world’s leading costume designers and costumiers, John Bright has captured the imaginations of audiences around the globe over the past five decades.
The attention to detail in the costumes he has created have brought people, places and moments in time, vividly and authentically to life on both stage and screen.
In 1987 he was awarded an Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Costume Design for A Room with a View.
ABOUT KEITH LODWICK
Keith Lodwick is a curator, writer, and historian. He is the former Curator of Theatre and Screen Arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. At the V&A, Keith curated Vivien Leigh: Public Faces, Private Lives and was the V&A assistant curator for the major exhibition Hollywood Costume, one of the most successful exhibitions in the museum’s history.
Keith has contributed to a wide range of publications including Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and Shoe Reels: The History and Philosophy of Footwear in Film.