Anthony Hopkins needs no introductions, I believe most people will agree that he is an excellent actor. Roles he has played are amazing in their variety and depth of performance. Below is my list of five Anthony Hopkins movies that I feel are unduly forgotten or underrated.
I will begin with my favorite one, Shadowlands (1994), directed by Richard Attenborough. This movie is based on a true story of C.S.Lewis and his wife Joy. C.S.Lewis (Anthony Hopkins), a renowned British scholar and writer, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, had met his future wife through correspondence. Joy (Debra Winger), a divorced American woman interested in literature, was very impressed with C.S.Lewis’s books and wrote him a letter. He answered it; she wrote again. Their correspondence continued, then Joy had a chance to go to England, and they had met in person. Lewis, a lifelong bachelor in his fifties, pretty much set in his ways, did not expect any romance – and it was not there at first. When Joy had some visa problems and Lewis offered her marriage so that she could stay in the country, it was done out of a friendly desire to help, not love. However, when Joy was rushed to a hospital and diagnosed with cancer, Lewis suddenly realized his love for her. He went to the hospital and proposed to Joy, this time “for real.” They got married right there, at the hospital bed. Joy did get better, and they had enjoyed one happy year together. Then her cancer returned.
My second favorite movie out of these five is 84 Charing Cross Road (1987). Interestingly, it is another story of two main characters corresponding, and again the man, Frank P. Doel (Anthony Hopkins) is in England, and the woman, Helene Hanff (Anne Bancroft), is an American. Here, too, they are brought together by their love of books: Frank is a manager of a bookstore in London, and Helene is a writer who enjoys British literature. However, this isn’t a love story. Frank and Helene develop a strong friendship that lasts over 20 years, through letters, but they never get to meet in person. The movie is also based on a true story, so the letters read throughout are genuine. This thoughtful, quiet, and moving film is excellent. If you are tired of shallow action flicks based on special effects, check out this gem.
The next movie on my list, also excellently done, is The Remains of the Day (1993). The story is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Anthony Hopkins plays Mr. Stevens, a butler in Darlington Hall. Mr. Stevens believes there are two keys to success in his profession: being loyal to the master and unemotional. He does both, which unfortunately costs him his personal happiness. When his friendship with Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), the lively housekeeper, grows into a romantic attachment, Mr. Stevens chooses loyalty to Lord Darlington over love. Twenty years later he looks back at his life and understands with regret that he had made a mistake. Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins are a delight to watch. Different yet drawn to each other, their characters hide their feelings, never admitting them – Mr. Stevens out of his policy to repress his emotions, and Miss Kenton out of delicacy. You can tell the two would be happy together, you can easily picture them as a family… Yet, it does not happen. I know it sounds like a sad story, but the movie is interspersed with bright humor as well.
In Howard’s End (1992), Anthony Hopkins is paired up with Emma Thompson again. Here, he plays Mr. Wilcox, a wealthy gentleman whose kind wife, Ruth (Vanessa Redgrave) is very ill. Ruth befriends a younger woman, Margaret (Emma Thompson), and feels very sorry for her and her sister when she finds out that they are about to lose their house. Margaret does not ask for anything, but Ruth keeps thinking about it and on her deathbed decides to give Margaret a house where she grew up, currently unoccupied, called Howard’s End. However, Ruth is very weak, and she does not have time to have it legally incorporated in her will; all she manages to do is to write a pencil note that says that she wants Margaret to have Howard’s End. When she dies, her husband Mr. Wilcox and his grown-up children decide to disregard the note as having no legal power. Then Mr. Wilcox’s grief brings him closer to Margaret who used to be such a good friend to his wife. Once again, Margaret neither asks nor expects anything; she is just there to offer sympathy. Mr. Wilcox falls in love and proposes to her. Margaret accepts. Now the secret of having thwarted his late wife’s dying wish weighs on his mind. As usual, Anthony Hopkins is very good and convincing, but Emma Thompson’s kind, selfless Margaret shines even more.
The last movie I want to mention is The Elephant Man (1980). This film is based on a true story of Joseph Merrick (incorrectly called John in this movie), a severely deformed man known as the Elephant Man who lived in Victorian England. Anthony Hopkins plays Sir Frederick Treves, a physician who had befriended Merrick and later on wrote a book about him, on which this movie is partly based. As a doctor and a surgeon, Treves has obviously seen a lot of unsettling sights; yet when he first sees John Merrick he can only say, “I hope to God that he’s an idiot” – meaning that for a man so badly deformed it would be a blessing as he would not understand his misery. But John Merrick is fully sane. Forced to make a living as a sideshow attraction, mistreated and abused, he longs for acceptance, companionship, and respect. Together with Doctor Treves, we see the human soul behind his hideous appearance, and a beautiful one. John Merrick is a kind, intelligent, sensitive man. Anthony Hopkins plays the second leading character here, and his performance is, as always, top notch. Dr. Treves is unable to cure John Merrick. He struggles to understand his own motives in helping the unfortunate man: is it kindness or curiosity akin to that of the crowds who come to sideshows? However, Dr. Treves’s friendship does help John Merrick to regain his dignity and feel respected as a human being. This is a truly wonderful movie, although a very hard one to watch.
I hope you will find my list helpful. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your movie-watching experience should you decide to check out any of these gems.
