Rebecca

by Daphne Du Maurier

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!

Book vs. Movie:
I’m often a little hesitant to read old(er) books as they have a tendency to not hold up. For example, Murder on the Orient Express was so rassist, I kept cringing with every other page. This novel was written a hot minute ago, so I feared it might fall to the same fate. However, it turned out that Rebecca is still highly relevant. Sure, it’s set in a different time, but it’s still works today.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me in that regard was the age gap between the two main characters. You know, you’d expect that maybe back in the day nobody cared that a rich older guy married someone barely legal. Well, it was addressed several times throughout the book how weird people found it and how much everybody frowned upon that. I actualy really appreciated how it was handled in the story and how well it was portraied in the movie. It also clearly shows the power imbalance between them and simply how different they are partially owning to their age gape. The casting on that part is impeccable, with both Fontaine and Olivier playing their roles to perfection.

There are many reasons in the book why their realtionship is off-kilter, some of those due to their personalities. For example, the new Mrs. de Winter is not just young. She’s extremely naive, shy, clumsy. Pretty much the opposite of sophiscated. She seems so fragile, just so unsure of everything, you alternately want to smack her for the way she acts and hug her. He’s not just older. He’s rich and grew up like that. He knows how to conduct himself, had been in the spotlight for most of his life. The two are polar opposites. Many little aspects keep piling up adding to the second Mrs. de Winter’s insecurities. I’m so glad that the movie kept extremely close to the book in that regard. As this was the strongest point of the story, this was a make or break kind of deal!

In general, Hitchcock stuck to the original plot and turned it into a beautiful adaptation. Believe me, there is a reason why this holds a 100% approval rating on RT and is generally regarded as a brilliant film. It’s honestly one of the best adaptations I have ever seen. They just nailed it: the cast, the scenery, the music, the everything. The story is crafted expertly and it comes with several interesting twists, you definitely didn’t see coming. You can tell a lot of thought went into it shaping it, so it’s good they only changed minimal aspects for the adaptation.

I am fully aware that not every story can easily be translated to the screen by keeping so closely to the source material, but in this case those two form a perfect symbiosis. Rumor has it that Hitchcock was a full-blown asshole at the set – I mean it is wildly known by now that he wasn’t a good person. Every time I watch the movie my heart goes out a bit to Fontaine over how she was treated at the set and I’m sad about that. Nevertheless, the final product the world got to see is outstanding, and Fontaine’s performance played an integral part in that.