A gentle reminder that the book is the key. If you haven’t read it, you really should.
I’ve always thought authors would turn in their graves when new and swankier versions of their timeless classics are released as films. Yet, there is no doubt — however, good or bad, a new cinematic release revives a gently restored curiosity about the author and book. I feel the writer comes alive for a while in one’s cluttered Social Media, Netflix blurred brains. Revisiting the book (via the movie) is like meeting a friend who returns to one’s life from a long time ago and hugs you with that unconditional affection of childhood.
Just the name Daphne du Maurier takes me back to quieter times, of long afternoons reading on my bed as a teenager. It was du Maurier’s writing that enthralled me, her descriptions of Manderley, of the stern housekeeper Mrs Danvers and of nature that mirrored the emotions of our chief protagonists. How could I — and countless others who loved the book — forget the famous opening line ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’ Literature’s documentation of, and appeal to universal emotions is what keeps these prized classics alive in our hearts and minds.
You find thoughts that are gems. And at the cost of sounding simplistic, you say to yourself, ‘Oh my God, that’s exactly how I feel. Lines like: ’Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.’ Don’t you agree? I would rather read these thoughts in books — within a context — rather than cleverly designed as an Instagram post.
For a romantic, English literature imbibing teenager who loved remote, romantic, literary heroes — check Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre — the handsome, yet stern, Max de Winter cut the ideal figure. Laurence Olivier cast in this role by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1940 David O. Selznick production of Rebecca was perfectly distant and unreadable. With Joan Fontaine cast opposite Olivier, the master of suspense Hitchcock relayed the gothic moodiness of the novel, the dark side of psychological abuse missing in the 2020 version.
Rebecca has been translated to cinema many times, In this year’s adaptation, director Ben Wheatley’s treatment of the book, although visually stunning, is quite flat. No chills down one’s spine, no eerie atmosphere. Armie Hammer is a little too cleanly handsome, too approachable for the ideal Max de Winter — his mustard yellow suit which he wears in the Monte Carlo segment is a bit too bright. Back in Manderley — which is picture book perfect, much like Downton Abbey — he is pretty silent. Meanwhile, Lily James as the new Madam de Winter is innocent-looking, naive and pretty, as she is in the book, but maybe not as mentally spooked out as one would want her to be — or even as humble. Kristen Scott Thomas as Mrs Danvers looms large — but you wonder why she’s been reduced to an archetype?
Published in 1983, Rebecca has never been out of print since the day it was released. After watching Ben Wheatley’s film, you have to read the book to know the depth of the original story and where the director remained true, or not, to Du Maurier’s gothic romance.
Rebecca is now available on Netflix.
