A bit of a different post today. Recently, in readiness for the Netflix film release, I finally read the book Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I found a group of people to read the book with at the same time, and as we all stormed through it, we discussed what we thought, where we thought the book was headed, and whether we liked or not. One thing was for sure: we all absolutely adored the book and couldn’t wait to see how the film adaptation would compare.
The same as any film adapted from a book, there were changes, of course. So I thought I’d discuss a few of the changes, and my general thoughts and feelings on this new adaptation.
As a disclosure: This is going to be a bit of a lengthy post, so you may want to grab yourself a drink. Also whilst I will try and keep this as spoiler free as possible, I do talk about one major spoiler in one paragraph which is clearly warned before you read it. So avoid that paragraph if you’ve not seen the film. Other than that, this post is pretty spoiler free.
For those of you who don’t know, the premise of Rebecca is that Maxim De Winter recently lost his wife a year ago, and remarries a young girl and takes her back to Manderley. However they don’t get the happy married life she dreamed of, as it seems the ghost of Maxim De Winter’s late wife – Rebecca – still haunts him, and her presence still echoes throughout the house. Think typical gothic horror, the perfect book and film to get you in the mood for halloween!
So, the similarities: both the book and the film share that tense, suspenseful and sinister feeling. When reading the book it felt very dark and I even found myself holding my breath at times. I had no idea where the book was headed and at times I found reading the book was quite spine-chilling. For me, all these feelings transferred to the film faultlessly, but in a different kind of way. If anything, I think the film can arguably be more tense in places, as they have the use of music, lighting and camera angles which can amplify these feelings.
The film was a lot more fast paced, understandably. In a book you can read these long and beautiful descriptive passages, but in a film this is shown rather than told. This meant the film moved a lot faster than I was initially expecting, but it must be hard to fit 400+ pages of content into a 2 hour film.
There was some scenes altered and added that were different to the book., some big, some small. Let’s start by discussing the small.
There’s quite a pivotal moment in the book when there is a costume ball held at Manderley and our leading lady is wanting a costume to shock everyone who sees her. Lost for ideas, she takes an idea from Mrs Danvers, the head housekeeper at Manderley, and dresses as one of the paintings in the hall. This is an important part as there’s a lot of build up, wondering how everyone will react when they see the new bride in her costume, and you can practically feel her excitement through the pages as she prepares to make her grand entrance.
All of this was transferred well onto the screen – there was less of a build up but I put this down to having to cut things from the film with a lot of content to include…with one minor change. In the book – the costume dress is white. To me, this has connotations of purity and innocence – the standard stuff you learn about in English Literature, and both very appropriate wording choices and connotations for our main female character, as at this point she is exactly that. The colour white in the book for me also felt very appropriate as that can of course be a haunting and ghostly colour…we’re coming back to that.
In the film, the dress colour was changed to red. I have tried, really I have, and I cannot think of why. Of course, I know what the colour read is linked with – anger, revenge, passion, all that…but to me that doesn’t feel right for this moment in the book nor the film – if you’ve read the book or seen the film, I’m sure you’ll understand why and what I mean.
When this un-named wife comes to the top of the stairs for her big reveal in this costume, her husband, his sister and her husband all see the new bride in this costume and are all taken aback. Because it is exactly what Rebecca – Mr De Winters late wife – wore before she died to the very same ball. So not only is this a hugely significant plot point – an indicator that Rebecca is still very much present in the house and their minds, but the colour white was a perfect choice. Remember me saying white is a haunting and ghostly colour? With the new Mrs De Winter wearing this costume, but in white, when all the family look up, it would be like they’re literally looking at a ghost. With the new Mrs De Winter wearing exactly what Rebecca wore, on the same night, to the same event…the point is that it is hard to tell the difference, and I personally think the dress colour being white really hammers that home and brings an added haunting feeling to that.
Next up, let’s look at some of the major changes.
There is an added scene when our un-named lead female meets a Jack Favell. (Side note – I love the mystery behind our main female never being named but it’s a pain not knowing what to type and call her in this post!) In the book this is a brief encounter, but in the film they have a longer meeting, lasting what feels like the majority of the day. Whilst initially I was confused as to what was going on, after reflection this scene adds a lot to Jack’s character – showing the audience what kind of person he is . How he’s a smooth and smarmy man that has the ability to charm people very easily, how he commands attention and is someone who is clearly used to getting what he wants. This is all implied in the book in a different way, and as the book was transferred to screen, I feel this scene was needed to emphasise this personality of his to the audience, as he becomes quite important later on in the plot. So whilst initially this change confused me, the added depth to Jack’s character is actually something I found I liked in the film and worked quite well.
Now. The trial. Near the end of the book, there is a trial regarding the late Rebecca. I won’t say the ins and outs for spoilers, but in the book this is hugely tense, you have literally no idea what turn it will take, the drama is at a peak. Well, in the film – the drama is still at an all time high at this point…but the entire set up is different. Whereas in the book the drama builds, as does the tension, until it peaks – the film seems to rush forwards into the trial and throws audiences into the drama headfirst.
Furthermore, the books version of the trial (I say version because this whole section in the book is very different but I, again, don’t want to spoil) is more set up like there is a lot not adding up about Rebecca’s death. With new found evidence, an inquest is needed, from which a conclusion can be made. The films version felt very accusatory, one sided and like a case closed until it could be proven otherwise. It felt like we had switched from the mysterious, suspenseful, gothic horror period drama, and instead the film turned into a straight up courtroom drama instead – something I can assure was very much not the feeling of this section of the plot in the book.
My own reasoning behind this change is that it is just more entertaining for people to watch this section as a trial, with heightened drama. Without this, the impact of this scene may not have been as effective and fallen flat, such as is the way sometimes when books are turned to films. There is also the matter that of course words and films are two very different kinds of medium, so some changes are required to ensure the film is still entertaining as well as telling a story that has already been published.
If you’ve read this far, I thank you. I didn’t realise I would end up writing this much, I guess I just had more thoughts and more to say that I initially thought! Consider this your halfway point. We’ve covered two changes I wanted to talk about and there is two left, plus some details I want to discuss. This could be a good point to go and get a refill on your cup of tea.
Following the trial, in the book the main characters go on a bit of a venture down to London to visit a doctor regarding the late Rebecca. This was a big deal, as there was way of predicting what the outcome of this visit would be. Something else I quite like in this part is that there were two characters who hate each other, united in this alone, as they both wanted the same thing: the truth from the doctor. Maybe I’m overthinking, but I do like that idea. In the film, our leading lady decides to just potter off to London on her own and do this all by herself. For me, this just felt anti-climatic. I didn’t feel her running away to London by herself added anything, as opposed to if they had all just gone together as was written, and by her going alone, I didn’t feel the same way I felt when I was reading this section.
Upon a discussion with the girls who read the book and then also watched the film with me, they mentioned that it could be a power stance. In the book, Mrs De Winter is – to be frank – quite a weak character. Think typical 1938 female lead character. The girls mentioned that by her going to London by herself to gain the truth from the doctor, this gives her a purpose. This shows her being determined to take matters into her own hands to get the truth, as opposed to waiting for everyone else to take action and her just getting dragged along with it. I had never considered this view, but since this being pointed out, I quite like that outlook and has put that whole scene in a new light for me.
This next PARAGRAPH DISCUSSING A change from the adaptation is the huge spoiler from the film I mentioned in my disclaimer at the start. Avoid this whole next paragraph if you’ve not seen the film. LOOK FOR A BOLD, CAPITALISED MESSAGE AFTER THIS PARAGRAPH TO NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE SPOILER ENDS. (If you’ve read the book – this doesn’t happen at all and it took me completely by surprise).
Mrs Danvers has been a haunting, eerie character throughout the whole book and film. Constantly comparing Mrs De Winter to Rebecca, acting as this ominous figure within Manderely that you know something isn’t quite right and you shouldn’t trust her, but you can’t quite pinpoint why. At the end of the film…Mrs Danvers commits suicide. That was a massive change that I absolutely did not see coming. And after 3 days I still don’t know how I feel about it. On the one hand, I like how at the end of the book when she is still alive, there is the idea that her presence will always be lurking in the back of the De Winters heads, she’ll always be haunting them, and the De Winters couple will always be living in fear of her – even if they don’t realise it. After all they go through in the book, I feel that her being alive at the end of the book is significant, and they’ll always be looking over their shoulders for her, wondering if she’ll ever do anything else destructive to get revenge. However, her dying at the end of the film also feels quite clever to me, and significant in a different kind of way. I interpret her suicide as that she wasn’t just a bitter woman, angry there was a new lady taking Rebecca’s place, she was deeply loyal and had so much love for Rebecca that she couldn’t bear to go on living in a world without her anymore. So, still mixed views on that drastic change, but I couldn’t have written this post without mentioning it.
Okay – that’s the end of the spoiler – you can now safely read on!
So that’s the biggest changes I wanted to discuss. Now I just want to discuss some details I really enjoyed or felt were missed in the film (sorry, I said this was a long one!).
I like how from the book to the film, they’ve given Mrs De Winter a bit more of a chance to develop; in the beginning of the book the she is quite timid, spineless and delicate. By the end, she is someone willing to fight for her husband, stand by him no matter what, and willing to stand up for herself. In short she develops a backbone. I love that about the character, and love how that wasn’t left out but rather has been translated to the film.
Having said that, in the book Mrs De Winter comes across as a lonely character – her relationship with Maxim is not up to much – he is cold, distant, hard for her to reach. The relationship gets off to a rocky start, until the near end really. I interpret this loneliness that Mrs De Winter feels as the reason she stays so loyal to Maxim, why she fights for him so much and why she is so certain on standing by him – because yes, she may genuinely love him, but also because she has no one else in her life or no where else to go. I feel the film was missing that lonely and melancholy feeling. In the film, the De Winters have a ‘normal’ and loving relationship, and when Mrs De Winter shows that loyalty and determination to her husband, it feels more like she is staying with him because of the love she has for him, and less because she is lonely and has no one else. Perhaps this was intentional and a deliberate, conscious choice, bringing the film a bit more up to date.
There is a bit of a disaster that happens to poor Manderley at the end of both the book and the film. I won’t explicitly say what for spoilers, but if you know – you know. I loved this both in the book and the film. I think this is a fantastic ending. I think that it symbolises that as long as Manderley stands, so does Rebecca’s ghost, and the De Winters will always have her in their minds, and be reminded of her and all they’ve been through. When this disaster happens, it feels very fitting, now that Manderley isn’t what it was, their lives may be very different, yes. But now they are free from the past to live the happy married life they both want with no more reminders of what has been.
In short, I did like the film. The majority of it felt as chilling, haunting and suspenseful as the book. They were able to show things we weren’t aware of in the book – such as Mrs Danvers watching all Mrs De Winter does from the shadows (obviously we can’t be aware she does that in the book, as it’s told from the Mrs De Winters perspective, and she obviously isn’t aware she’s being spied on). The use of the characters dreams throughout the film, the use of lighting, music, everything all combined has worked really effectively to ensure this gothic horror and ghostly tale has been translated as well as it could be. The casting is fantastic, everyone does an incredible job at bringing these characters to life. The set and filming location is a wonder, making Manderley a place just as beautiful as I imagined, and the costumes are sublime (I want them all for myself!). Yes, there are parts I would have done differently – but I am not a film director, and I am sure there are more valid reasons for the alterations that I have not thought of.
Overall – I like the film as a standalone film, as opposed to a comparison to the book. I know it’s renowned that books are always better than the film, and this was no exception. But as a film by itself, I found it enjoyable. Films are meant to entertain, and it did succeed in doing that for me. Had I seen it without having read the book, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. Who knows?
And there we have it – we have finally reached the end! If you made it this far – thank you so very much. It really means a lot you’ve taken so long to read my longest blog post to date and I do truly appreciate it. Give yourself a gold star. And also a break from the screen. If anyone wants to discuss this anymore, I’d love to hear what you think – we may share or have contrasting opinions!
In the meantime, stay as happy and healthy as you possibly can. Now I’m off to hide whilst this post goes live.
One Show at a Time 