Rebecca (1940)

The intriguing beginning to one of Hitchcock’s lesser known works promised for a film tainted by eerie surrealism and built on deep rooted characters and yet, a short while into the picture I found myself disappointed. Though realising the relevance of the opening scene, I believe the tone was set somewhat inappropriately, even incorrectly, and made for a confusing start. After an abrupt segway into the introduction of a tiresome and meandering plot, the only suspense I was aware of was my hope that the characters would become anything more than unbelievable and one dimensional. This was not aided by the brief and insincere scenes intended to deepen our connection with them such as Fontaine’s dream sequence, while the plot took a speedy shortcut through the lead up to an unconvincing proposal. I might also mention that Fontaine’s character remains unnamed, as she was in the novel of the same title, and the intention to portray her as inexperienced and naive gave a slightly uneasy undercurrent throughout the film, a feeling that she was indeed being taken advantage of by the insincere widower, though it is surprising we are able to feel sympathy towards her plain character at all. Possibly due to the different qualities we expect to see in a modern day female protagonist, I think most would now describe the second Mrs de Winter as almost pathetic, continuously playing the part of damsel in distress. As well as this, Laurence Olivier’s short tempered character makes for a questionable relationship between the two. Admittedly of a different era, I don’t think the on screen pairing would be considered healthy by today’s standards which undoubtedly hindered my experience of the film.

Anticipating the final credit for almost half its duration, Rebecca drawled on to an uninspired end and the ‘shocking reveal’ seemed almost comedic due to a weak performance by Olivier and a cliche score.

Despite my criticisms I would point out the beautiful cinematography of every scene, each still having perfect composition. Unfortunately this was not sufficient to redeem the film which, in my view, is extremely weak in comparison to classics such as Psycho and understandably one of Hitchcock’s less revered.