Rebecca - The First Wife

"It wouldn't make for sanity, would it? Living with the devil?" Rebecca (1940) by Robert E. Sherwood (screenplay), Joan Harrison (screenplay), and Daphne Du Maurier (novel) is a Psychological Thriller Romance about a naive and unsophisticated, young woman that impulsively marries a wealthy widower, only to discover that he and his loyal housekeeper are still clinging to memories of his late wife, Rebecca. Themes of class, servitude, romance, and jealousy seem to dominate the narrative of this fish-out-of-water, whirlwind romance that hastily moves the awkward and nervous new bride (Joan Fontaine) into the fully-staffed seaside mansion "Manderley" of her paternalistic new husband, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). It's clear early on and all throughout the story, that the new bride's name is meant to be obscured, as she is only referred to and addressed as "the young bride," "madam," "the child," "darling," and "dear." She meets the refined household staff, most of whom are gracious and welcoming, but quickly discovers that the stiff and formal, housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), does not approve of her. Mrs. Danvers is quite overt in her determination to psychologically bully the new Mrs. de Winter into thinking that the house (especially the west wing) should stay just as the greatly "adored" Rebecca left it (prior to drowning a year ago) and overtly convinces the new bride that her husband still loves his former wife. Mrs. Danvers' behavior in addition to Maxim's outbursts, persistent distancing, and uncertainty about their marriage increase the new Mrs. de Winter's nervousness and clinginess. At mid-point, the new bride finally asserts that Rebecca's belongings should be removed, and she desperately tries to convince Maxim that they are happily married. At the heart of this story is a trifecta of psychological instability. The seemingly "broken" Maxim is reeling from the death of Rebecca, not because he misses her, but because he feels responsible for her death. The easily pleased, new Mrs. de Winter, believes she is in love with the man she married and hardly knows (and has no family of her own), so she is terribly desperate to make their relationship work. The openly hostile Mrs. Danvers is so fiercely loyal to her former mistress and so wholly disillusioned about Maxim's grief, that she has no qualms about pushing Maxim's new wife to the brink of suicide. What's especially clever (and ominous) about Rebecca is that each of the main characters is being driven mad by the title character we never get to see. When considering the extreme and tragic ending in relation to the set-up and second act development, I think the overall presentation would have been better served by spending less time establishing the short courtship and more time building up Mrs. Danver's rapidly evolving insanity.