Rebecca, Lost in Adaptation ~ The Dom
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Murder becomes manslaughter, mothers become evil lesbians and an abundance of Britishness becomes... well no they nailed that. The Dom reviews the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's best seller: Rebecca.
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Sigh... Ok so if anyone wants to give me the old "You forgot" about the Narrator's disturbing visit to Maxims senile old mother in the book go ahead. I deserve it this time.
I'm more of an "Uhm actually..." guy.
Not much better.
Don't worry about it.
The Dom You're human, you're allowed to forget things. Don't listen to the haters 😊
Right now I feel homesick from you showing the clip from The Birds, my grandmother was a teen when they were shooting the movie in fort Bragg/ Mendocino CA. Also Cujo was filmed around the time my mom was teen in the 80's And Overboard you know with Kurt Russell & Goldie Hanh , they went to my granma bar that she used to owned
"Apparently, doing exactly the same shit every day was more desirable back in the 1930's."
When your country loses an entire generation of young men to war and influenza followed by worldwide economic depression, I imagine that predictability starts to look pretty comforting.
2wingo It provides security and comfort without too many unpleasant surprises.
@@anonb4632 Also, they were landed toffs and in the 30s , they did
Guess we'll find out.
This comment hits different in 2020
This aged well...
28:18 - Maxim is suffering C-PTSD form long term inescapable emotional abuse. It causes memory loss and dissociation, which is the silent freakout he goes into, and her telling him normal stuff would be grounding.
The author having the character act this way, so long ago, when it was only understood in war vets as "shellshock" is quite amazing!
Honestly this whole book does a wonderful job of describing the psyches of multiple people with mental health issues including the narrator with anxiety (and possibly Aspergers Syndrome), Maxim with C-PTSD, Mrs Danvers with...well insanity I guess, I’m not entirely sure, and even Rebecca herself being the textbook description of a sociopath. It was far ahead of its time :)
As a person who maladaptively daydreams like the narrator in the book, I feel called out.
Yea, I think the lead probably had some form of anxiety.
I feel ya man. Same problem
Ugh... mood...
When the dom first made this review, I was both relived and terrified that there was a fictional character who did the same thing as me.
I feel you, I actually discovered this story from the German musical and then went on to read the book and watch the movie and I was honestly relieved to find a character that (is heavily implied to be) suffering from anxiety and goes through a lot of the same things I do, the daydreaming included. She goes through literally every possible scenario in her head and I didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or relieved because I do the same thing 😂. Honestly while I was reading that book I kept on thinking “Did du Maurier know I was going to be born 65 years later because I see a lot of myself in the 2nd Mrs de Winter and its fucking creepy”
"I should not be the one freaked out by this conversation!"
That made my morning
Altar360 i know! that was my favourite part!
19:52 for to rewatch lol
I love when The Dom does his role plays🥰 most entertaining
@@betenoire1145 Isn't it cute when a couple has matching facial hair.
@@elehcarykztorban0360
Maybe Max was a little afraid of his wife after that.
Which would be no bad thing.
"I feel like I'm about to pass St George's Cross out through my urethra like a kidney stone!"
- The Dom, 2017
Toby Martin I say...
That entire skit was one of my favorite parts of this entire review. For an American like me, it would be like witnessing Uncle Sam grilling hamburgers on the Fourth of July while drinking soda from a stars and stripes drinking hat, then pausing for a second to belch out a bald eagle holding an American Flag in its talons.
@@thornangel16 Don't forget fireworks going off the whole time.
Yeah, Du Maurier was painfully patriotic. So much so, that her final novel was called "Rule Britannia" (1972). Kid you not. Although I suppose that's to be expected when you consider that she would've been 5 when World War I started and had a childhood saturated with wartime propaganda.
This book has one of my favorite opening lines of all time; “Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again.”
"For Manderley is ours no longer.
Manderley is no more".
One thing the film had to drop that I found really important? *SPOILERS*
Was that Rebecca actively goaded Max into killing her. She knew she had cancer, couldn't bear the thought of dying weak and in pain, and wanted one last bit of revenge or backstabbery or whatever the hell her problem was against Maxim (she clearly thought he'd be sent down for her murder and bring disgrace on the family name forever.) So it wasn't just a change from "totally shot her" to "whoops she slipped," but the motivation of Rebecca, who even from the grave has manipulated every single person in this story like so many dolls, was hugely important to understanding just how far she was willing to go to achieve her insane version of dominance over everything in her life.
One reason that du Marier starts the book with the ending--that is, the extinguished candle life that the narrator and Max are living post-Manderley torching--is to show that having someone like Rebecca in your life can have enormous, lifelong consequences, even for people who never even met her. Max is basically a helpless old man whose only touchstone to the person he seemed to be when the narrator met him was a deep, unfathomable terror of scandal and publicity. They live the life she was living at the beginning with Mrs. Van Hopper; rootless, nomadic, no real place to call their own or even relationship beyond that of "constantly muffle anything that might trigger a flashback." Rebecca is a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake. There's Before, and then After.
Yes, I agree that Rebecca intended that Max be arrested and hanged.
@@jmarie9997
Rebecca's story is a very sad one.
Couldn't she have stayed single or married someone she actually liked?
@@alanpennie8013 Rebecca wasn't capable of loving another, and Max was probably the richest man around. It's also implied she's a lesbian, not socially acceptable in the 1920's.
@Charisma Girl
I seem to remember a suggestion that their sex life was ok, but it's a very long time since I read the book.
I do find the ending (or the beginning!) unsatisfactory. I'd have liked our protagonist to stay at Manderley and make some kind of peace with Rebecca's ghost.
The sentimental ending.
@Charisma Girl
Good point about the dreaming. Rebecca still triumphed despite being dead.
I started reading this book after watching this review and discovered the reason for her talking about "routine" so much. And it has nothing to do with the book being written in the 1930s.
Established routines start out as the biggest challenge to the protagonist. The servants have lived in the house much longer than the lead has, so everyone has established routines that she doesn't know. It is these routines (some established in Rebecca's time and some that have come into being after Rebecca death) that make the lead feel like she's being overshadowed by Rebecca's presence. But by the end of the book, she and Maxim have established routines of their own that bring comfort after the traumas that they lived through at Manderley.
In other words, routines begin the story as a locked gate preventing the lead from belonging in her own home, and end the story as the bond that allows her and Maxim to make anywhere feel like home.
Thiiiis! Couldn't have said it better myself
As someone who recently moved in with my boyfriend, yeah, it's really hard to find a place for yourself in an area that already feels full. Very relatable
I know you dislike it, but the lead's overly detailed imaginings actually are creepily relatable to me as someone with Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder. And her suffering from it would help make some of the stranger moments make sense, so... headcanon acquired.
10:15
Dom: STOP BEING SO BRITISH!!!
Maxime: ***In the most pretentious British way possible*** I say!
I surprised myself actually laughing out load at that.
"I had a Fifty Shades of Grey flashback and trashed half my house", I just studied this book for uni and literally SAME
@Cassandra I'm imagining Dominic standing outside of an empty house and insulting it.
@Tianruo Yang no but TRUST me I could write a whole dissertation on why that book deserves to be in the trash forever!
Cue a couple years later, Dominic watches the Netflix adaptation of Rebecca and has yet more 50 Shades flashbacks ... poor guy, I'm considering becoming a Patron just so I can pay for his therapy bills.
What Maxim goes through after are huge PTSD symptoms. That's 100% what he is struggling with. As someone who has been living with abuse PTSD, and learning how to get around those symptoms, I can def relate and confirm
I read the book in high school. I think Hitchcock gave that girl more of a spine. She definitely came across as more mature than I read her to be. In the book she jumped at every shadow, fell for every lie people told her... It really was unsurprising that she married a cold unfeeling bas- (you know what I mean). She was truly desperate for a sense of security and independence she wasn't ready for and took the first exit anybody and I mean literally anybody gave her. Our leading male could have been bald, pock-faced, and have a dozen grandchildren and she'd still have married him.
You're right, Hitchcock made the protagonist smarter and braver. The protagonist was much more naive and easily frightened in the book, and she married Maxim as an escape from being controlled and disrespect. I don't judge her for marrying Maxim as an escape. Taking any means of escape is very common for abuse victims, and sadly du Maurier never says that severe anxiety, depression and marrying to escape are symptoms of abuse. She just treats it as a trivial matter.
Just as a point, first cousin incest isn't illegal in any European country, but it's very rare and most people think it is like you did. I just finished a research project on the subject. :-)
finickity reader What on earth made you choose that for your topic?
I've never flinched away from 'icky' subjects.
finickity reader It's inbreeding rather than incest. Incest is with 1st degree relatives - and arguably step-family, adopted family and so on.
I dunno in UK, but in Italy there's thia weird roundabout law where incest is legal if 1. Both of them are adults 2. There's no offspring 3. Consensual 4. There's no "public scandal", which is... very vague, because it implies it's perfectly fine if it's public but no one minds it. I know, what the frell
KyrieFortune There is a grey area with homosexual incest.
Hey Dom?
This is probably more suited for a trivia section if you ever do a video on such things; but... Rebecca has a special little secret in its soundtrack.
In 1938; the Hammond Organ Company debuted a new instrument; an instrument so unlike the organs they were producing. It is now considered the grandfather of all modern synthesisers: The Hammond Novachord.
Whenever the first Mrs. De Winter is mentioned, especially after the arrival at Manderley; the Novachord pops up to provide an ethereal; otherwordly accompaniment; and to increase the tension in the soundtrack; due to its unique sonic character for the time.
OMG, I LIVE for shit like this, thank you so much!
Damn, that's cool.
Reading this book for the first time, I was absolutely shocked to find one of the most accurate portrayals of anxiety I've ever read. The insecurity, the terror of calling attention to herself, the hope that if she can just figure out what she's supposed to be doing, she will fit in, the over thinking to the point of absurdity, the loneliness... holy shit this was brutal. As a person who deals with anxiety (although not to anywhere near this extent, thank heaven), the book was able to so thoroughly entrench me in the narrator's perspective that none of her choices felt odd to me.
As for the transformation at the end-- i do not know what the author intended, but to me it's the ultimate horrific consequence of the narrator's situation. We have spent this entire book with a naive, very young, clinically anxious woman who has spent months in total isolation from anyone who understands her. She is tormented by circumstance (having to figure out, by herself, how to be a member of this upper class she knows little about), by carelessness (Maxim is a callous bastard who becomes cold and angry at minor transgressions but never takes her emotions seriously), and actual malice (psychological torment by Mrs Danvers). And at the end of all this, the man she adores, who she believes she has somehow failed by not being good enough, who has never communicated with her and shows affection to her the same way he shows it to his dog, finally opens up to her. And in a few words, he reveals that he does love her, sthag he is good enough, that her belief she is inferior was never true... no wonder she'd do anything for him.
Maybe I need to reread the novel for what would be my fifth time, but it seemed to me that his incidents of anger toward her were when she behaved like Rebecca unwirttingly. She's trying to be sophisticated and polished to please him and thinking she falls short, but in reality he came to loathe everything about Rebecca. If any couple needed cognitive therapy, it was those two. That costume ball scene still makes me wince. But Maxim has become so conditioned to malice that he believed it of her too.
"My preference leans towards the fearless space captain variety" Don't think I didn't spot your pun, The Dom. Honor Harrington being the space captain of the warship Fearless.
Wow
Loved the little Honor shout out Dom. I have only recently found your channel and am binge watching my way through all of them. Love your style of presentation, wit and your obvious love for both Sirs Terry Pratchett as well.
In the movie the reason why Danvers tricks the Narrator to wear the same dress as Rebecca is because she had all her diaries and letters burned. In the book it happens after Maxim finds out that Favell came to the house and Danvers thought it was the new Mrs. De Winter who told her husband about it, when in fact it was Crawley.
The movie also really toned down that Rebecca had multiple lovers--the movie makes it seem like Favell was the only one. I'm sure it was for censorship reasons, but I thought that was an interesting part of Rebecca's character.
I think I prefer the movie take.
It makes Favell a more interesting character.
Perhaps they could all have been happy if Rebecca had been able to marry the man she actually cared about.
@@alanpennie8013 weirdly that's why I don't like it. It diminishes the power Rebecca has as this master manipulator still tormenting people from beyond the grave just to share it with some random secondary character. The idea that both he and Mrs Danvers were just devoted extensions of her will, serving her in death as in life and thinking it was mutual love, is just much more compelling to me
@@katharineeavan9705 I share your interpretation. Both adored her and we can not tell, if any feelings were returned or both were just tools. Rebecca may have been happy for all we now. She dominated and dictated a unconventional life of freedom, while fucking everybody up and still upholding a facade of the perfect women in society. She was en exceptional character to read and hear about.
Toned down!!?? Listen to Mrs Danvers in the doctor's office. Rebecca laughed at and disrespected multiple men!
I think book Maxim came across as a bit sociopathic. I also liked the whole book because I identified with the main character so much. I was a lot like her when I was younger so I forgive her lack of backbone, knowing she just had a lot of growing up to do.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier has tones of the dark fairytale 'Bluebeard' to it. I can can see how Hitchcock became drawn to it. Strange that contemporary romance writers use a lot of Rebecca's themes and (aspects of Maxim's dominant personality and wilting wallflower narrator) even though it was more of a psychological horror.
Both a little scared,
Neither one prepared,
Beauty and The Beast.
That book: OMG that book. The most terrifying book. I've had nightmares. Seriously. This and Jane Eyre. They were recommended to me at a young age as "classic love stories with a strong female lead." At age 12, this was horrifying. HORRIFYING. OMG, and then I read Ethan Frome and basically turned my back on anything labeled a "classic" for a good ten years.
If you think about it, this story is basically Jane Eyre with a much weaker protagonist.
I wish he would do a review on Jane Eyre book/miniseries with Ruth Wilson. Btw, it is quite funny that 60% of the male characters in that book are priests.
My mother specifically warned me NOT to read Jane Eyre at night. The beginning was fine, so I didn't listen to her. Learned a valuable lesson and had nightmares for months. Didn't touch another Bronte book for nearly a decade.
ETHAN FROME WRECKED ME! I read Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes, and King Solomon's Mines, and I loved every minute of it! But Ethan Frome drove me away from Classic Literature for YEARS! I thought it was just me.
this is one of the funniest Lost in Adaptations to date
Please do "Murder on the Orient Express" from 1974, since we're getting a remake this November. It's such a great Agatha Christie book.
Top I meant the 1974 film vs the book.
Sofia Matos which movie adaptation though? There are two of them already not counting the one coming out in November.
The one from 1974.
Sofia Matos There is also a Poirot tv 📺 show Episode and it is really good.
Oonagh72 I know, but it's not technically a movie. I think the 1974 one should be compared to the book first.
I was just watching The Doms original video of lost in adaptation and that quality change in confidence, sound etc just needs a round of applause TBH. Ive been watching a while and I hadn't noticed until now but seriously great job Dom
Sidney Horne jumping back and forth between new and old episode really smacks you in the face with the difference. I love it! He’s grown so much! ❤️
@@gingerstorm101 Is it because he found out Maxim never loved Rebecca? ;-)
As someone who literally just got out of a situation with a manipulative liar, you have to do so much work to keep your own self worth and your idea of who you are I can completely agree with Maxims decision to blow Rebecca away. Humanity is better off without creatures so vile.
How easily you buy a murderer's self - justifications.
@Charisma Girl
Yep.
In those days it was understood that if the wife wanted a divorce the husband took the fall. Booked a hotel room, hired a professional co - respondent.
I'm just gonna smoke some pot and watch some losers freak out about how someone recovering from an abusive relationship thought that murdering their abuser was justified.
Do you both ever put yourself in others shoes, or do you just see things you don't agree with, get upset, and then throw shit at the wall? If I cared I'd be most curious as to how you say divorce wasn't possible, then you both go on to describe how to divorce people. Additionally interesting is how if a woman in "those days" (sources req. On those divorce proceedings you stated) cheated on and hurt her man, he was expected to file up for her bullshit. At least in a modern court there are factors which decide who pays who. Anyway, that's my two cents on my year old post. Glad to say I'm in a better place, but I don't expect either of you to understand or care. And frankly, after making me have to do all this explaining, I don't give a fuck what you think 😁 Edit: After literally a moment of searching my own memories and going "Wait, I met my much better girlfriend a year ago..." I can 100% say that this comment suffers from RUclips not aging comments better. The original comment you two are being dicks over is TWO years old.
Rebecca is clearly one of my favorite novels of all time. While Dominic complains about how spineless the narrator is, let me point out that the entire book is about how she GROWS a spine and becomes a powerful character by the end of the book, despite the massive class differences and self-doubt she has to contend with in her alarming situation. The proof is how she is able to write such an introspective narrative - far from Manderly which, thank God, has burned down! The psychology is flawless and many of us have experienced comparable situations over the course of our lives. While some of the adaptations are okay, they are no substitute for the novel itself.
How many adaptations are there?
I do wonder if she could eventually have mastered Manderley.
The story does end in a partial victory for Rebecca, which is disappointing.
@Charisma Girl Yes, the Hitchcock version is excellent, but as we both agree, it‘s no substitute for the novel.
The short, punchy sketches are used to full effect here. Very lovely. It's a happy medium between ten-minute Nostalgia Critic bits and just your lovely voice talking over clips.
Nathanael Unger That's a great point - while I enjoy the NC's sketches, they do tend to be overly long, and I much prefer the Dom's quick punchy sketches because they don't overwhelm the review or have jokes that overstay their welcome.
I agree wholeheartedly.
And Dominic's skits are actually funny, unlike about 98% of NC's. When I was still watching his stuff I just started skipping through those obnoxious bits.
I actually found the main character really relatable, and I never thought that she was spineless- just that she was raised to be meek (read: lower class) and wasn't sure how to handle it when she was escalated to an upper class station. She had a real case of impostor syndrome. She didn't want to look foolish in front of the help. (Also, I'm a serial daydreamer myself and 100% get where her head's at )
It's the same reason she's perfectly confident when talking to her personal maid. The main character hangs out with her a lot, visits her maid's family and goes for walks with Frank, and that comes totally natural to her. She's comfortable with people from a background she's more familiar with.
As for Maxim's behaviour in the book, keep in mind it's all from her perspective. Maxim loves her but she doesn't feel deserving of him, so she's timid around even him. He complains at one point that she spends more time talking to Frank than to him. Maxim can't open up because he's haunted by the murder he committed, and she can't open up because she scared of looking childish to him. (Even though, annoyingly, he prefers her child like nature. Ugh.) Also, neither one of them knows what a healthy relationship looks like.
I interpreted the scenes of them moving around as a description of how they could never really feel secure knowing that Maxim had committed murder and might someday be found out for it.
Yes, the girl is way out of her depth and aware of it. I am actually surprised that this seems to be such a strange notion nowadays. Sure, society and social relations are very different than 80 years ago, but it's basically a very similar plot element to Harry in is first year at Hogwarts. Also the psychology of the "shadow of Rebecca", a strong personality but actually evil manipulator is very well done. It's somewhat sensationalist and middle brow at best but back then, it was a novel thing. Also the covert eroticism (Mrs Danvers basically being in love with Rebecca and the latter being a multiple adulteress) was somewhat risque 80 years ago. The only other book of du Maurier's I read "My cousin Rachel" is even closer to what would be called erotic thriller today (of course rather slow and non-explicit).
@@bartolo498
This is really a story where the bad guys win.
If you think of Rebecca as a bad guy that is.
I heard about the novel Rebecca last year while reading an article online and was so drawn in by description that I went and bought it the next day and started tearing through it. I avoided spoilers religiously but as I got almost halfway through I accidentally ruined it for myself for embarrassing reasons.
I read alot of older novels and find that it was very typical up until the past 50 years or so to never mention sex between a married couple directly, just to imply it. So after the protagonist gets married to her much older husband and he becomes somewhat distant I found myself wondering if this would be one of those novels which doesn't feel the need to outright tell the reader about their sexual relationship; but since Rebecca's sexuality was already being implied I became confused. Apparently I thought it was a big enough deal that I had to google it, and in my feverish attempts to find out if our young protagonist was boinking her cold husband I got my answer - in the same sentence that mentions the big twist.
Just like you described, after finding out the twist I found that I just wasn't interested in the protagonist's life anymore. I occassionally pick it up to drive through some chapters but I haven't brought myself to finishing it.
That's what I get for being a pervert
So, did they do it or not?
I can't help but think that Gone Girl was basically a What If Rebecca faked her murder and Maxime was seriously charged with it - story.
I think book-version Maxim may have acted the way he did due to dealing with Rebecca's narcissistic behavior. The cold, closed off responses could be the result of the emotional abuse he had dealt with.
Sometimes people in those situations sort of learn to shut off outward signs of emotion to avoid presenting a target, since narcissists often do things to intentionally upset others, then blame them for having a reaction and gaslight them into thinking there's something wrong with them.
Couple that with the description of Maxim's behavior at the end, and it sounds like he's dealing with some PTSD from his time with Rebecca.
“I should not be the one freaked out by this conversation!” 🤣
I always read rebecca as emotionally abusive - in which case when it comes to the reveal maxim doesn't get more sympathetic but the narrator's relief makes her much less so and based on daphne du marier's life i suspect that's on purpose
To clarify - because maxim is an arse. No one should suffer emotional abuse
For some reason this kinda makes me wanna see The Dom do Gatsby.
Jackson Birde which version of the movie?
All of them.
Maybe a DomOsars. Who knows?
Pete Hill I don't think two is enough unfortunately.
There's been six Great Gatsby movies..... one just called G and I believe is more inspired by than a full adaptation.
This is going to sound so sexist, though I don't mean it to be -- Rebecca is a woman's story. I think every woman has had the experience of comparing herself to another woman that she perceives as perfect. All of the anxieties the heroine goes through are SO relatable. The desire to run a household and be the perfect wife, mother, and hostess coupled with the fear of all of those things. I just felt so SEEN by the narration, and I think this is a classic because so many women feel the same.
Also, I don't think the heroine's change came from learning that Rebecca was terrible -- it was from knowing Maxim loved her. That was genuinely all she needed.
Hm, nah. I'm a woman and I really haven't had that experience.
I agree! Although the wording of 'every woman' is hyperbolic, even as someone who hasn't personally experienced what you describe, your interpretation is very astute and well put :)!
I agree. I could feel the narrator so much!
Rebecca is Jolene in book form
The "Book is just too British" sequence is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen
Spoilers for the birds:
The birds short story is actually really good. You should review it. I had to write an essay about it in middle school about my interpretation of the bird attacks. (I thought the author was expressing the fear she felt about the during the battle of Britain . The final section where the family is walking out of the house to see the birds just staring at them was symbolic of Nazi occupation, and trying to carry on while being scared for your life and family.)
I think this is your funniest review. My favourite part is "I SHOULD NOT BE THE ONE FREAKED OUT BY THIS CONVERSATION!"
I watched the original film adaptation of this as a child with my grandparents and was completely scarred. I remember thinking Ms Danvers was the scariest character I had ever seen
I didn't realise until now how much the lead looks like Rosamund Pike.
Oh I think this may be my favourite Lost in Adaptation
This is one of the best videos you have done so far.
I'm really glad you mentioned the influence of the Hays Code and the homophobic take on Mrs. Danvers.
I thought that if you hadn't talked about it, one of those would became the new "Gary Stu" or "red shoes changed because of the technicolor".
Mrs. Danvers needs motivation for her behavior, but that motivation doesn't need to involve lesbianism. Having her being a mean-spirited obsessive mother figure blind to her daughter-figure being an utter bitch is a fine explanation.
jliller Exactly!
Anon B Eight months late but, villains can be gay- but they should not be the only gay characters in the thing. Because for years villains were the only gay characters around
@@satireknight Hitchcock despised all women. Bi and gifted as a storyteller would be enough to make him crazy.
I have a Virago edition of Rebecca where there is an explanation of the novel of sorts - In this , Mrs Danvers was clearly portrayed to have sexual feelings for Rebecca and Rebecca played on this to manipulate and make Danvers fiercely loyal to her. While I don't think this book is homophobic, to me this relationship makes much more sense and explains Danvers' anger towards Maxim and the narrator. I think the fact that Rebecca was such a cruel , manipulative woman was revolutionary for a novel at the time.
9:00 Idk but I think using "A church where serman were never told" brings to mind not just musky, but more of the feeling related to it, with how abandoned churches have different vibe than other abandoned buildings. Unsettling, like she doesn't belong there. The word choice also brings to mind something unholy, or demonic, which depending on the context of the scene or other events that happen in the library, could be connected.
Despite the fact you kept referring to Hitchcock and Selznick as a 'dream team', apparently they had an ongoing feud over the course of this film due to the fact that Hitchcock had a different vision for the film but Selznick forced him to be more faithful to the book. Hitchcock was so dissatisfied with the finished product that he effectively disowned the film and made sure to be more perfectionistic (is that a word?) in the future, and to never work with Selznick again.... which is a shame because I quite enjoyed the film but whatevs
Wasn't Hitchcock a "mean spirited, sexist wanker?" If he'd had his way, what would he have done to the protagonist? Remember, this was the guy who had a man murder a woman in a shower after watching her change and then dump her body in a swamp. I know that he made great movies, some of which have become among the most celebrated in history, but in this case - and I can't believe I'm writing this because I very rarely side with producers unless they're either Jon Landau or have a history of making good movies themselves - I think Selznic was right to give Hitchcock a bit of restraint.
Which is weird, because it’s his only Best Picture Oscar. Selznick insisted on accepting it, BTW
@@tomnorton4277 The plot point you're mentioning from "Psycho" (i.e. murdering a woman in a shower after watching her change and dumping her body in a swamp) is, actually, taken entirely from the original "Psycho" novel by Robert Bloch. So, regardless of what Hitchcock was like as a person, those scenes have literally nothing to do with his influence on the story. That moment is even softened a bit in the film in comparison to the book. In the original novel, the peephole is in the bathroom, rather than the bedroom, resulting in him not only watching her change but, also, witnessing her dance naked in front of her mirror. Then, when he murders her in the shower, he full-on decapitates her. So, yeah... that scene was, actually, taken down a couple notches in Hitch's version. But, no question, Selznick was a very talented hands-on producer who absolutely helped make "Rebecca" into a great cinematic interpretation of the novel and a great film, in general. Hitchcock was the kind of director more interested in his own vision than necessarily staying true to any source material so, no doubt, he would've changed a number of things in "Rebecca" if left to his own devices. That said, I'd actually be really curious to know what specific aspects of "Rebecca" he had considered changing....
Well, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had a horrible falling out, but they were amazing together.
Fun fact: when they were filming this it was suggested that at the end there should be a big letter R made of smoke, as the mansion burns down, but either O'Selznik or Hitchcock said that it would be weird. Hence the burning nightgown case with the embroided letter R.
So it's quite fitting that the logo for the musical version is a big flaming letter R
@@shikkithefirst5393 I guess so. Also on stage it would be very hard to showcase a small piece of fabric in a way that that peoply in the back row can see it too. I guess things come full circle. I really like the musical.
Wow I don't know why but the Dom looks REALLY good in this episode. ...maybe I'm a sucker for the vest and button down shirt combo. Also love the earring.
I just realized... technically speaking, the ship wreck that brought in Rebecca's body stopped the Narrator from committing suicide....so ironically Rebecca's return from the grave saved her life. That's different...also the thought occurs that Rebecca might have WANTED Max to kill her. Why else would she lie about being pregnant? She counted on Max finally losing it and sparing her a long, painful death...so wow The Dom, thank you for a thought provoking episode. I read this book ages ago and you made me realize new things about it!
It does look like a case of suicide - by - Max.
Though only if you believe Max's account.
I kind of feel that the change in the lead's self-esteem was handled better in the movie and that this was done to make the character undergo some kind of actual change and come off as more palatable. If she learns to stand up to the ghost of Rebecca on her own, she has some sort of character arc and changes as a person. If she just changes because the thing that was putting her under pressure is magically solved by the plot, then that's no actual change at all - she's still a doormat, she just isn't being put in any situation that is triggering her cripplingly low self-esteem.
This actually could tie up into her reaction to finding out what happened to Rebecca - in the book all that matters to her is that her man loves her because she's still a doormat and cannot see beyond whether she lives up to his expectations or not. In the movie she already got some kind of independence so she focuses more on what actually happened and the implications of it.
I actually found DuMurier's style compelling. I have read this book three times now (As well as listening to an audiobook of it many many times) and I still love it.
20:16 You really could have extended this skit, it was funny enough that you could have kept going, describing the process of cleaning the cottage, cleaning his clothes, hiding from the servants while he was still covered in blood
The elaborate fantasy thing is something I absolutely did growing up. A lot. It turns out that an undiagnosed mood disorder (officially marked as Depression but I’m not convinced that I don’t have bipolar instead), the extreme isolation that autism can bring, and a deep sense of otherness can make for a very weird child. Anyway my point is that the fantasies described are totally realistic for someone with mental health problems (the narrator definitely does) to experience and even act out.
My theory is the protagonist/narrator is named Rebecca, too, which would be a really sick twist, don't you think?
It would certainly add another level of creepy to Maxim.
@@alanpennie8013 Yikes! I never thought of that in all the years since I read the book.
It would be funny, weird and creepy but it's probably not. In the book it's mentioned that the new Mrs. DeWinter has a very lovely and unusual first name which is rarely spelled correctly. On the other hand my head cannon was that Her name is also Daphne, but I guess we'll never know. I wonder if she chose an actual name for the main character and chose not to reveal it or not.
I like your review- even though the movie is good, I prefer the book which is a very weird psychological kind of novel. I think that by altering the plot elements you already analyzed they completely changed the outcome, I mean the movie is much more simple and romantic than the book, and makes it very straightforward that Max is the good guy, while Rebecca and Denvers are definitely the antagonists. It the book I was left feeling that the real truth was left untold, and Mrs No name De Winter as a narrator is much more unreliable, along with all the sources the information about Rebecca comes from.
him acting out the scenes with the lead and the husband had me in tears
The author of the book told an interviewer why the second Mrs deWinter has no first name: she simply couldn’t come up with one. That’s it, no mystery.
I call bullshit on that. Throughout the entire story, no one calls her by name? If that wasn't intentional it's just bad writing.
Awww, I love love love Daphne du Maurier, she's essentially my favourite writer together with Stefan Zweig! Rebecca isn't my favourite work of hers, but I love it anyway given how critically acclaimed it is - not just a film adaptation, but a darn musical dedicated to it!
Aaaanyway, with this bit of info out, comments:
I - unfortunately - rely very very much to the lead, both as a mad fantasy idiot and as a woman with no backbone. I mean, I'm smart enough to recognize that, ehehe. Like, I do think of future improbable events, maybe not as detailed as the lead, but still. And oh I can so relate to this part you reenacted, with Maxim confessing his crime and the lead only hearing one thing. Allow me to explain:
- you are, as stated, a woman with no backbone;
- your life is utterly boring and non-exciting;
- a rich charming fuck appears and seems to be taken by - whoa what - by just silly plain you? like, for real?
- the fairy tale is obviously doomed with having to go away but - whoa what - a marriage proposal? whaaat?
- magical long honeymoon still with a sense of impending doom - that is, going back to Manderley;
- you are focken unsuited for this kind of life and just generally look like a joke to people;
- your very dearly beloved husband, who saved you from a very sad lonely life indeed is getting grimmer day by day;
- you can't forget how he must have loved his first wife even without that creepy scary AF Mrs. Danvers;
- all this combines into the nagging fear of "oh shi~, he doesn't love me anymore, and probably actually never did, because of course there was Rebecca!";
- fear keeps growing more and more until the fateful event and the unfortunate dress choice;
- you are almost talked into taking your own useless life thinking what little love he had for you is surely gone thanks to Mrs. Danvers;
- almost persuaded that you've lost him forever you hear of a body being found;
- the only thing you can think about while approaching him is how not to lose the little love he has left;
and then he tells you that not only he didn't love her, he has brutally treated by her and lost his shit in the end and now that he finally found his true love - whoa what?
Like, I am recapping all this and I am myself horrified at how much I relate. It might be that this book actually helped to shape me as a person and this is why I relate this much?
Anyway, all this is to point out that the change I hate the most is definitely the accidental death vs. the actual killing. Like you said, it makes Maxim and the lead look quite different, and honestly makes the whole thing somewhat less exciting in its fuckedupedness.
Hopefully this will help anyone to understand the lead a bit better. Probably fine if you don't get it anyway, I am aware that I am not a very sane person.
Massive, massive thanks for reviewing this! Here's hoping you get to Zweig at some point, why not to pick the brilliant Joan Fontaine again and study Letter from an Unknown Woman? And if you can be persuaded to tackle du Maurier's Scapegoat, which has two adaptations, one of them very recent and very loyal - imo - ah, I can't imagine!
Don't forget the inescapable point that if the narrator hadn't grabbed at the bizarre life raft of Max's proposal, she had no other way out of her terrible life! She had NO money and no means of support. Her father, "a very lovely and unusual person," apparently left her with a unique name that's never spoken and not one red cent. Max not only seemed like some kind of replacement fantasy father, but a very solid leap away from the constant buzzing low level panic that is personal poverty and utter dependence on a horrible person liking you from day to day (of course the marriage--surprise!--turns out to be more of the same.) But can you blame her for marrying him even without the emotional components?
Rebbecca is one of my favourite film and books. Mrs Danvers is such a fascinating and interesting character
The main difference is that the book is a cross between a romance and a coming-of-age story, while the film is a typical thriller / murder mystery in best Hitchcock fashion.
Actually I like the books' internal monologues, the descriptions of places and people, including the routine. I find it soothing, not boring. De gustibus ;-)
''Fun''fact: Du Maurier probably plagiarized a Brazilian author to write Rebecca. Carolina Nabuco wrote The Successor 4 years before, translated it into English and sent it to the same publisher who published Du Maurier back then. Even Du Maurier's biographers say she probably read it and plagiarized it and then Rebecca was born.
I came back to this LIA after seing in Vienna a poster for the MUSICAL while on Holiday. That's how I introduced you to my bff 😊
I just finished reading the book and I really liked it. The overshadowing presence of Rebecca, the mystery surrounding her and the big plottwist. At first I also found it a little dragging at places but I got used to it and sometimes even enjoyed how descriptive the writing was. Also I more or less agree with most of what you pointed out that bothered you. And although I have to admit that I am a little bit like the narrator myself sometimes and therefore, can't be too mad at her (imagining detailed conversations with people (that mostly will never take place) or being doubtful of myself and then easily convinced by others) I was still bothered by how spineless she was at times and I was literally laughing out loud at each sketch of yours because you just nailed the "problems" of the book!
I don't know if this happens in the book, but something that nobody seems to address - certainly not in the movie, and not in any review I've read of the book (I read the book years ago, but I seem to have blocked out the experience) - is that Rebecca uses the name Danvers when she goes to the doctor in London ... And she's been using that name for YEARS. And yet, somehow, when that piece of information is uncovered, nobody goes "Danvers, hey? Well, that's a funny coincidence".
My wife maintains that it's the reason that the narrator was left out of the scene. She'd have been sure to say something like "was Danvers her maiden name? Is she Mrs Danvers' daughter or something?"
"A story that frustrates you as well as it entertains you . . . " Thanks for putting into words something I've thought for quite some time. And thanks for the video!
“Hitchcock and Selznick, new dream team” is the most ironic part of the review. Hitchcock despised Selznick so much that he cast the villain in “Rear Window” to look as much like Selznick as possible.
Dom: "If you have seen it, please feel free to skip ahead."
Me (who has seen the movie like 5 times and watched this video like over 30 times): nah, I definitely need to hear this, I mean, what if somethings changed?
I had to read this book at the age of 14 and really related to the main character. Grew out of that real quick.
Rewatching this before the Rebecca 2020 one.
It does make me question though, is Maxim more sympathetic in service of his "accidental" widow status or was this accidental death chosen in service of making the character even more sympathetic? Although I understand the governing censorship, I would imagine there would be different ways to go about it.
Also I should mention, it does seem interesting that by changing the circunstances of the death, the character APPEARS sympathetic, but if I interpreted it correctly you actually can't tell definitively how truthful is his statement, even if his justification is very logical. Isn't it interesting to consider the possibility that he was just so good at manipulation that he got away with actual murder?
This is a good point.
We have only Maxim's word for it that it was an accident.
But of course he was an English gentleman and would never tell a lie.
One of my favorite films by the Master of Suspense. His adaptation of “Rebecca” is wonderfully atmospheric & the casting was brilliant especially Joan Fontaine as the narrator/heroine
"I'M NOT THE ONE THAT SHOULD FEEL FREAKED OUT BY THIS CONVERSATION!"
That line made me chuckle a bit more than maybe it should have. :D
Rebecca is my favorite Hitchcock film, I grew up watching it. It was such a pleasant surprise to see this classic has not been forgotten. Wonderful job!
very very smart, very very funny, dominic--i always assumed that the change from de winter's shooting rebecca to her falling accident and his hiding the evidence was a simplification 1940 hitch thought was better suited to the love story with the 2nd mrs de winter; i didn't know there was a law for script writers--and i always thought that the narrator not having a name was simply that it was "daphne," and du maurier was being thoroughly 1st person in her writing: but i like your theory; the 2nd mrs de winter is thoroughly erased by the 1st--a personal note: as i watched i became increasingly concerned that you seem never to blink your eyes while you're talking to us--thank you for a wonderful video
Neither did Mrs. Danvers. Interesting...
Ms. DeMaurier wrote in many different voices. Because of this I've generally enjoyed her short story collections more than her longer novels. But they're good too.
Theres an amazing Austrian musical of this that is coming to London in September 2023. It tried to go to New York a few years ago but got scammed by the buisness lead and fake investors
Paused your video and watched the Movie via stream since I felt I'd be just wrong to spoiler myself Hitchcock. Thank you so much for explicit warning, Dom, I am really happy, I watched it before watching the Adaptation. Brought me an awesome evening with a jaring movie :)
If you get on an older movie kick, the Collector (the love struck kidnapper one, not the dismember-y killer one) was a pretty disturbing book and movie but definitely had its differences.
They changed the time where the narrator stood up to Mrs. Danvers to make that the reason she was tricked at the ball. In the book, she was set up in the prank because Maxim found out about Favell's visit and Danvers blamed her.
Too British? That's actually a complaint I had with the British 'Avengers' movie I saw a while back with Uma Thurman. Such insane crazy sh*t happens to everyone in that film and no one responds with more than a polite smile :/
DON'T KNOCK ALTON TOWERS! I had to suffer my entire family (including smug big sister) going on about how great all the rides were (that I was too short to go on, being 4), and I still remember enjoying it!
I read this book decades ago, never saw this version, but recently watched the one with Charles Dance as Maxim. I was taken aback by how abusive and controlling this ‘hero’ was.
This is awesome, I've been sent home from school as I'm ill and The Dom has got a new list in adaptation!
Cheers The Dom
The Brit show wait, you have school right now? I got out a couple days ago lol
The Brit show hope you feel better soon
Did you know that, here in Spain, we call those light cardigans a "rebeca" because of this film?
Greetings from Barcelona! :)
Thank you. I now finally get why the army of Mrs. Danvers clones in the Thursday Next novels are so feared.
Also, thank you for another really great review. It's not only a joy to watch your show, it's helping me get back into reading after it became a struggle due to a visual damage caused by cardiac arrest.
Just, thank you for that.
This is one of my personal favorite RUclips channels. keep up the great work. I do agree that the lead is way to passive. I had to read the novel in high school and this was around the time I discovered Tamora Perices Song of the Lioness series. For a high school girl her books along with stuff like The Twelve Kingdoms made me realize how cool female leads could be. So to go from a series about the kickass adventures of a Lady Knight to this pissed me off. She's so weak willed that spent most of my read getting upset with her not even attempting to stand up for herself.
drawnseeker Oh I discovered Tamora Pierce and Alanna around the same age. Funnily enough I wound up in the military.
This was my Grandma's favourite movie, I remember watching it when I was five with her ... Thank you so much making this video, Dom. You've made my day :D
"I should not be the one freaked out by the conversation" I love your writing
One of those reviews I can watch during exams. Something in his tone and way of speaking is calming. This review being one of my favorites. Thank you Dom. You’re reviews are always lovely.
OMG!!! I loved the book and the movie equally. And you have expertly explained why! What an entertaining, but inciteful explanation into thedifferences between them, and the reasons why. I thoroughly enjoyed your take on Rebecca! Well done!!! ❤
When you talked about Daphne du Maurier I got kind of surprised you didn't mention that this story was plagiarism. Most foreigners seem unaware of this, but du Maurier copied the Brazilian book from Brazilian author Carolina Nabuco, called "The Successor". Nabuco's story was made four years before and she translated it to English and send it to the USA to try to publish it there. She later found out, when "Rebecca" became a success, that the agent she send the book to was Ms. du Maurier agent. People that read both stories got outraged, with all right, since she copied pretty much the whole book from "The Successor". They tried to keep it quiet since it became a Hitchcock success and when the movie came to Brazil, they asked Carolina Nabuco to sign a document stating that any similarities between their stories was "mere coincidence", offering her big money to sign it, but she refused.
I, as a Brazilian, take much offense on the fact people celebrate Daphne Du Maurier as a great writer and "Rebecca" as an amazing work by her when it's just a copy. Not the I blame most of them, since they just don't know and the case wasn't really brought to court, but when famous people and authors do it, I can't stand they don't research to know or just don't address the elephant in the room.
Unfortunately, du Maruier's actions are just another case of disrespect towards Brazilians authors and artists.
I'm not criticising the Dom, I love his videos, but it's a matter I would like to bring to light.
Jackie Arnolds Rebecca is a well written book, regardless of the plagiarism.
Were there differences between Rebecca and The Successor?
That’s Interesting. Is there anny good translatinon of The Successor?
@akplmn thank you both for this incite. I saw this video quite a while back and recently learned that we will be covering this book in my capstone class, so if I choose to use this book for my epic paper, I am now aware of this contraversy. I probably won't, since I think I already have a concept, but I still felt like I should revisit this.
holy shit i never knew that!! that's so unfair
Has anyone seen the BBC "Rebecca" mini-series, with a young (and skinny) Jeremy Brett from 1979? Some of the stuff mentioned in the book, but left out in Hitchcock's movie is in this British series.
It definitely mentions that Mrs Danvers raised Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers recounts this scene of a young Rebecca brutalizing some poor horse for... I can't remember now, I think the poor horse bucked her a bit.
(I guess being patient with animals wasn't a thing for Rebecca.)
The bit about Maxim having killed Rebecca is definitely in the mini-series. He confesses to Mrs. deWinter how he killed Rebecca, and then made holes in the ship to cause it to sink. The mini-series ends with Maxium and Mrs. deWinter coming to Manderly and seeing it in flames.
And side note- hence why I big on "NO FAT SHAMING!" This "Rebecca" series shows a young Jeremy Brett, before his diagnosis as bi-polar, and his needing medication for it. If you go look for the last two season of Granada's "Sherlock Holmes" series, you'll see the changed medication made in his waistline and figure. Poor guy was having weight gain and water-retention issues due to medication for his mental issues. And I'll step off my soap-box here, as this is a whole 'nother rant/ blog/ posting/ video.
Rebecca is one of my moms favorite Hitchcock films but I’m just finding out it was based on a book. I love this video!
Although I understand and partly agree with your criticisms, but Maxim and the unnamed narrator are intended to be grey characters, and not an ideal hero and heroine. Yes, they had those in old books and movies.
Thank you so much for doing Rebecca, I've loved this novel for years and most of its adaptations from the film to the show to the musical, great video.
This episode came from my Patreon request back in the fall. Great job as always, (the) Dom!
I love both the book and the movie, it was great to see a review of the adaption! Rebecca was basically a retelling of Jane Eyre, which has some common themes with Beauty and the Beast. I wonder if Hitchcock left in the drawing scene and Mrs. Danver's death in the house to accent the common ground between the two stories. I think it's a little unfair to blame the narrator for being so naïve, as she was very young and had little world experience, and she certainly grew a time went on. Great review!
Holy cow, Laurence Olivier was GORGEOUS!
Hi Dom! I was really hoping you would consider doing "Hannibal", by Thomas Harris...
This is the last book chronologically in Harris's series, and the movie adaptation butchered (pun partially intended) nearly everything about it - especially the ending. More recently, there was a TV show inspired by Harris's book series that butchered the story and characters even worse than the movies had...
Because of this, it really would mean a lot to me if you could address and bring attention to these changes. I understand that it would probably be too much to cover all four books in the series, but I think it would be very sufficient if you were willing to discuss the changes made between the last book, "Hannibal" (1999), and the movie that was initially based on it, "Hannibal" (2001)... Thank you! :)
Apparently, authors back then were often paid by the word, so they purposefully made their stories as long as possible, then there's the "serialized then compiled for publication" thing. It explains why so many older books tend to ramble and/or endlessly repeat things.