USA 1940
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Production Company Selznick International Pictures
Running time 130 min
Certificate PG
“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
These memorable opening lines evocatively set the scene for Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier’s popular novel, Hitchcock’s first American film project and winner of two Academy Awards (one for best picture). A haunting gothic romance, Rebecca is a suspenseful study in guilt and anxiety, exploring themes of love, obsession and power.
A shy young woman, whose name is significantly never revealed, meets the handsome, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo and is swept off her feet by his whirlwind courtship. Following their wedding, they move to his Cornish estate Manderley, where the brooding Maxim once lived with his first wife Rebecca. Manderley is ruled over by sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers, who is ferociously devoted to the memory of her dead mistress and undermines the new wife at every turn.