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Rebecca is an Academy Award–winning 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. It is an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood of British author Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by David O. Selznick.[1] It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's servant, Mrs. Danvers.
The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, which still controls her husband, his new bride, and the housekeeper of their estate, Manderley, long after her death.
Plot
The film tells of the second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine), a young woman who works as a companion to the aristocratic Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates).
The companion (her name is never given) meets the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) in Monte Carlo. They fall in love and within weeks, decide to get married.
Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley, his country house in Cornwall, England. However, the many servants are reluctant to accept the new Mrs. de Winter as the new lady of the house. They are loyal to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances.
Particularly unpleasant to her is the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). She is still obsessed with Rebecca and attests to her beauty and virtues. She preserves her former bedroom as a shrine. It is implied that she was Rebecca's maid before Rebecca married. Rebecca's cousin seems to know her quite well, calling her by the name "Danny", which was Rebecca's pet name for her.
The new Mrs. de Winter is intimidated by Mrs. Danver's behaviour and by the responsibilities of being the new chatelaine of Manderley. As a result, she begins to doubt her relationship with her husband. The continuous presence of Rebecca in the house starts to haunt her.
Eventually, an investigation leads to the revelation about Rebecca's nature and her demise.
Adaptation
At Selznick's insistence, the plot of the novel Rebecca was largely unchanged in the film. However, one plot detail in the novel was altered to comply with the Hollywood Production Code, which said that the murder of a spouse had to be punished. In the novel, Maxim shoots Rebecca, while in the film, he only thinks of killing her after she taunts him, saying she is pregnant with someone else's child. She then suddenly falls back, hits her head on a piece of boat equipment, and dies from her head injuries. This is therefore much more innocent seeming than in the book version, as in the book, Maxim has purposely killed Rebecca, while in the film it is seen to be more of an accident.
Cast
Awards
Academy Awards wins (1941)
Academy Award nominations (1941)
Footnotes
