by Chris Marshall:
Ah, Rebecca. I
knew a little bit about it going in, but it was only at the most superficial
level. It was Alfred Hitchcock’s only Best Picture winner. It was based on the
novel by Daphne du Maurier. It was something of a melodrama.
Other than the Hitchcock connection, none of those tidbits
made me particularly excited about watching it. Then I learned it co-starred
Laurence Olivier. Ok, he’s pretty good. Then I found out that it was more of a
psychological thriller than a straight drama. All right, even better. Then I
actually watched the thing.
And it was really good! The true star of the film, Joan
Fontaine, turned in an immaculate performance as the brand new bride of the
recently widowed Maxim de Winter (Olivier). As I started to write this, I
realized I could not remember what her character’s name was; when I looked it
up, I discovered that she was never given one, despite being in almost every
scene. If she needed to be spoken to directly, it was always “Mrs. de Winter.”
Oh, and Rebecca’s dead. That’s important. The film’s
namesake was Maxim’s first wife, who died in a drowning accident. According to
some of her family members, the circumstances were quite suspicious indeed.
But never mind that for now. Maxim met Fontaine in Monte
Carlo; she was working as a personal companion for a mean old lady, and he was
(perhaps?) contemplating suicide. After immediately taking a liking to her, he
convinces her to leave her employer, return with him to his estate in England,
and get married.
The estate, Manderley, comes from the finest tradition of
Gothic mansions. Even though nothing supernatural is suggested in the film,
houses of this type just feel
haunted. And perhaps, in a sense, this one is—not by ghosts, but by memories.
Reminders of Rebecca’s presence are everywhere. Monogrammed napkins, figurines,
photographs, everything. Fontaine can’t go anywhere without seeing something the
original Mrs. de Winter left behind.
Compounding the problem is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. She
is cold, harsh, and standoffish toward Fontaine even from their first meeting.
In Danvers’s mind, Fontaine is villainous for even attempting to take Rebecca’s
place, even though she died before Fontaine even knew that Manderley existed.
It’s always hard to tell if she knows something nobody else does or if she’s
just doing everything in her power to get the new Mrs. de Winter out.
In the final act, things begin to spiral out of control for
everybody. I won’t go into details because most of the fun is watching
everything play out; it’s a web of intrigue and lies.
I’ve described some of the plot, but as I discussed in
yesterday’s interlude piece, that’s not particularly significant. This is a
movie about tone and mood more than anything else. There is a darkness that
pervades the film, existing in every scene. Hitchcock understood how to create
this feeling as well as anyone.
 |
| Manderley, home of the De Winters. |
Joan Fontaine was a name I had heard before but knew nothing
about. I discovered that she is the sister of Olivia de Havilland, who played a
major role in the previous year’s Gonewith the Wind. Interestingly, both are still alive well into their 90s, but
unfortunately, they have not spoken in many years due to a decades-long feud. Her
performance here was a revelation. She portrayed her character with an
understated charm, managing to be naïve, innocent, and smarter than she let on
all at the same time. As for Olivier?
Well, you always know you’re going to get the best from him. The greatest
actors make you completely forget their real-life personas, and you come to
believe that they really are the
character they’re playing. His Maxim is detached and mysterious, and it becomes
difficult to tell if this is the result of or the cause of his first wife’s
demise.
Rebecca is exactly
the type of movie I avoided before The Oscar Project. Now that I’ve seen it, it’s
difficult to imagine anybody not
wanting to see it. Even in his first American film, Hitchcock was already a
master of the craft.
No comments:
Post a Comment