Rebecca Film Analysis

1. Take Cinderella, add one part Gothic, one part Freud, and a dash of Scooby Doo – and the result will be Rebecca. Rebecca was made in 1940. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and was his first American project. The film is shot in black and white, and is a gothic tale. We never see Maxim de Winter's first wife, Rebecca, who died before the story starts, but her reputation, and recollections about her, are a constant presence to Maxim, his new young second wife, and the housekeeper Danvers. Rebecca is an altogether brilliant film, haunting, suspenseful, handsome and handsomely played. Miss du Maurier's tale of the second mistress of Manderley, a simple and modest and self-effacing girl who seemed to have no chance against every one's—even

You can call him "Maxim." Only Rebecca and Jack Favell call him "Max." He owns the marvelous estate, Manderley. A nice guy at heart, though he has Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde moments when he snaps. These freak-out sessions are a result of a very bad thing he did in the past that tortures him to this day. Maxim starts to regret marrying Mrs. de Winter, his second wife. She tells him that she loves him more than anything; she assures him that they will be okay. Maxim returns to being his old, distant self; She returns to doing everything in her power to make him forget about the past which tortures him; by doing so, they will be able to start a new life together – and more important, out of the shadow of

I definitely read Mrs. Danvers as a lesbian. But then when Rebecca was written there wasn't really any awareness of lesbianism, so possibly it's a 21st-century perspective that wasn't intended by Hitchcock. Mrs. Danvers describes Rebecca as "a strapping horse woman" and gushes about Rebecca being the light of a room. I mean she destroys a whole freaking Estate. I would call that love! Also, note that Rebecca's "encounters" in the boatshed were described as "unnatural" and you can't count the encounters with the cousin because back in those days’ people married their cousins all the time. Also, note that the unnamed character was a "travelling companion" which I believe at the time this book was written was a euphemism for lesbians. There is a view that Mrs. Danvers was actually a closeted lesbian and Rebecca reflects her true life struggle with her public hetero self against the closeted lesbian