Rebecca is almost as bad as its release year.
So, some time back I wrote a blog about my anticipation of the latest film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s famous Rebecca. I read the book during my first year of college and watched the first Hitchcock adaptation soon after. I have never really had much patience for old black and white but that movie did justice to the book and the performances were commendable. This new one, was well, pretty bad.
Like I said before, the thing with adapting books to cinema, especially the old classics, is that you have got to find the perfect balance. The balance that is essential to make your film look good for an independent cinema goer while also not compromising on the source material. Fans who have read the books usually aren’t satisfied with film adaptations and I include myself for the most parts. But I still had hopes for this one because for one, the trailer looked interesting and plus the casting wasn’t bad. But now that I have actually watched the entire run time, my assumptions haven’t stood right I realised.
The film opens with the iconic opening lines from the book because obviously, there isn’t an acceptable alternative at all. Director Ben Wheatly jumps straight to Monte Carlo for the beginning flashback of the story when the protagonist was a lady’s companion. Lily James is a good actor and I have watched her in Cinderella and Darkest Hour previously. I don’t but somehow I felt this role was not really for her. It isn’t that she wasn’t good but she just couldn’t embody Mrs. de Winter in all her plain glory like in the books. Lily James is too pretty and too radiant for the role. After watching the trailer I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I have seen her skill in other films, but this one wasn’t suitable for her.
Now, the plot structure more or less follows that of the book without any major digressions. However, there are some cinematic effects that made this film seem more like a bad supernatural romance than the brilliant gothic fiction it actually is supposed to be. The new Mrs. de Winter keeps seeing flocks of birds (or weird black insects) form a sort of R symbol in the sky, and I found it pretty mad. Just the execution of it all was off. Armie Hammer was unimpressive and bored much like Max de Winter so I think he kind of pulled it off.
The best part of the film was Kristin Scott Thomas. Her portrayal of Mrs. Danvers was perfectly sophisticated and deranged and I absolutely loved it. In this adaptation Mrs. Danvers wasn’t portrayed as the obviously creepy old lady like in the Hitchcock version. She was more subtle and that made her more scary. If you still plan on wasting your time with this film, watching Kristin Scott Thomas just about makes up for a quarter of it. Enjoy… not.
