Rebecca Movie Storyline. While working for Mrs. Van Hopper, in Monte Carlo, a young woman becomes acquainted with Maxim de Winter, a recent widower. After a brief courtship, they become engaged. They marry and then head to his mansion in England, Manderley. She meets Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who was devoted to his first wife, Rebecca, who died in a boating accident.
The staff and Maxim’s friends also were fond of Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers emphasizes the new Mrs. de Winter’s inferiority by comparison. Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin, comes to visit, saying that Mrs. Danvers invited him. Learning of this infuriates Maxim, who banned Favell from the grounds, and accuses Mrs. de Winter of infidelity, which she denies. She confronts Mrs. Danvers for conspiring against her by inviting Favell, demanding her resignation. Mrs. Danvers insists Favell was lying.
The two begin working amicably together, with Mrs. Danvers assisting Mrs. de Winter in reviving the Manderley Costume Ball. Mrs. Danvers suggests that Mrs. de Winter choose a dress of a de Winter ancestor. When she wears the dress, guests are shocked and Maxim is furious. Mrs. de Winter learns that Rebecca wore the dress the previous year.
Realizing that Mrs. Danvers had manipulated her and believing that Maxim now regrets their marriage, she flees. Mrs. Danvers reveals her contempt for the new Mrs. de Winter, believing she is trying to replace Rebecca. She tries to convince Mrs. de Winter to jump to her death from the window. However, she is thwarted by a nearby shipwreck brought from the storm. The ship is Rebecca’s and her decomposed body is discovered on board.
This reopens the investigation into Rebecca’s death. Maxim confesses to his wife that his marriage to Rebecca was a sham and that he always hated her. He states she was cruel, selfish, adulterous, and manipulative. On the night of her death, she told Maxim that she was pregnant with another man’s child, which she would raise under the pretense that it was Maxim’s.
She placed his gun to her chest and stated that the only way to be free of her was to kill her. Enraged, Maxim pulled the trigger, then disposed of her body by placing it in her boat and sinking it. Despite his confession, Mrs. de Winter is relieved to know that Maxim loves her and resolves to support him during the investigation. Favell attempts to blackmail Maxim, claiming to have proof that Rebecca did not intend suicide, in a note she had written.
Rebecca is a 2020 British romantic thriller film directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse. Based on the 1938 novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, the film stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, Ann Dowd, and Sam Riley. The film was released in select theatres on October 16, 2020, and digitally on Netflix five days later. It received mixed reviews from critics, who compared the film unfavourably to the 1940 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Filming began on June 3, 2019. Cranborne Manor in Dorset and Hartland Quay in Devon were used for filming in July 2019. In total, Rebecca was filmed at six different manors or estates. Along with Cranborne, Hatfield House was used for the interior hallways, Mapperton for Manderley’s back garden (which is open for the public sometimes unlike the actual manor), Loseley Park for Manderley’s east and west wing’s master bedrooms and staircases, Petworth House for one of the corridors full of marble statues and paintings, and lastly Osterley Park for Manderley’s kitchen.
Rebecca was released into select British cinemas on October 16, 2020, and digitally on Netflix worldwide on October 21, 2020. The film was the most-watched on the site in its first two days of release, before finishing second over the weekend. It was out of the top 10 by the following weekend. In November, Variety reported the film was the 11th most-watched straight-to-streaming title of 2020 up to that point.
Rebecca (2020)
Directed by: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, Ann Dowd, Sam Riley, Tom Goodman-Hill, Mark Lewis Jones, John Hollingworth, Bill Paterson, Jane Lapotaire
Screenplay by: Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse
Production Design by: Sarah Greenwood
Cinematography by: Laurie Rose
Film Editing by: Jonathan Amos
Costume Design by: Julian Day
Set Decoration by: Katie Spencer
Art Direction by: Will Coubrough, Nick Gottschalk, Louise Lannen, Will Newton
Music by: Clint Mansell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content, partial nudity, thematic elements and smoking.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: October 16, 2020 (United Kingdom), October 21, 2020 (Worldwide)
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