Rebecca, Simon Langton (1979) Jane Eyre Adapted from the novel by Daphne du Maurier
"Rebecca" With Jeremy Brett (Maxim de Winter), Joanna David (Mrs. de Winter), Anna Massey (Mrs. Danvers), Espelth March (Mrs. Van Hopper), Terrence Hardimann (Frank Crawley), Julian Holloway (Jack Favell).
(4 episodes 1h)
1979, produced by the BBC.
A young penniless girl, lady companion of a wealthy American, meets Monte-Carlo Maxim de Winter. Widower for just over a year, this English gentleman-like behavior disorder and taciturn, befriends the young woman, to the point that he offers to marry her.
Upon returning to Manderley, the field and the pride of Winter, their marriage is gradually losing its appearance of a fairy tale ...
***
First, I wanted again to thank Sylvie , without whom I would not have had the opportunity to see this adaptation, long time (perhaps since always) found ... !
surprisingly, as one might expect on adaptation as long, the novel by Daphne du Maurier remains perfectly intact. There are some beautiful exterior: Manderley and its massive rododendrons pink and red, the sea in Cornwall, the English countryside, wind, fog, everything is there, but unfortunately offset by a photo that has very old, due to the broadcast quality of the time. Fortunately, the charm remains, and that's all that matters.
With a host of excellent actors to serve such a work, the viewer is closed.
undeniably darker than the 1996 version, even more than psychanalyitique Alfred Hitchcock in 1940, This adaptation is probably the best that has been done on the novel by Du Maurier. And it may bitterly regret the oblivion into which it seems to have fallen ...
Joanna David portrays a gentle Mrs. de Winter, effecée ... Loving young woman who is projected in a very hostile world, taking care all day long not to bother anyone, between a husband who is a clumsy child and a governess who terrifies her. She can not find its place in this universe, it is inevitably unhappy ... Printing gives general adaptation is very similar to that inspired by the novel: the story begins as an unlikely fairy tale (the meeting with Max, marriage, arrival at Manderley wonderful that we imagine), until that the heroine is faced with the reality of life at Manderley, which is far from idyllic. Here, the "fairy tale" has actually ended, and it feels very hard. In the movie 40, things do not seem so black, and the adaptation of 1996, the situation escalates even during the honeymoon ... Briefly, in our case, the arrival at Manderley is considered a shock ...
Then there is the terrible Anna Massey (seen in many costume dramas like He Knew He Was Right , Tess of the Ubervilles , etc.) as Mrs. Danvers very impressive, given the presence casts a terrible shadow over the entire adaptation.
one implaccable cold, terrifying in its first appearance, cloudy, cold: a tremendous success, which makes me personally prefer to Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's version. Unstable personality, twisted, inhabited many frustrations, as the only Daphne du Maurier can invent, and that makes us look across the breadth of his vengeful madness.
It is for me the perfect incarnation of the character, sometimes measured, sometimes dramatically (if tragic), the diabolical image of his mistress gone, or dive into a boundless grief.
scenes who opposes the new Mrs. de Winter are absolutely brilliant.
Now I come to Jeremy Brett, who at any point of view, is the character I had in mind reading (but I WILL LICENSOR, this aspect is quite subjective).
Gentleman, distinguished, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes looks lost, confused and sometimes mischievous, he played a character nonetheless serious and disturbing from the first moments on screen. Both devilishly charismatic, tender and loving, it may prove a hardness and a destabilizing impropriety.
One thing, however, appeared to me on seeing the actor in this role: it is selfishness latent character from the beginning, something that had not struck a blatantly during playback. It is clear that the wife because she makes him forget his past, he clearly tells her just days after they met, and even if imposisble to question the fact that the love sincerely, he takes her with him and wife selfishness.
He knows full well, given the character of his young wife, she will never be at ease at Manderley.
Both his character is touching in the first episode (despite some mood swings that are consistent with those of the book), it becomes literally in some terrifying scenes of future episodes.
Take the time to analyze the eye of Brett when the young woman has the misfortune to evoke the past of Max. By now, the simplicity of the female character would become almost annoying, as it feels to come from leagues around the cataclysm caused by the repeated mistakes it commits.
The gesture of the actor also quite abundant in this direction: the way he has to walk straight ahead without bothering to worry if she follows him or not, then it is deep in thought terrible, totally responds to the image at once tortured and perfectly ego that is perceived from the start. Brett comes to disturb viewers, well beyond what his illustrious prédesseur (Laurence Olivier), or what Charles Dance may have conveyed to see the character .
note, what follows is a spoiler imporant.
Max's behavior remains equal to the discovery of the ship Rebecca. The relationship of the husband takes another dimension. Mrs. de Winter has matured, she now feels its utility. secrets are shared, so they can be terrible. Things are somewhat "sanitized".
But that's where we recognize the genius of Daphne du Maurier, who happen to almost make us approve a murder ... One begins to appreciate Max as it was originally, perhaps even more after learning the unacceptable, that he had murdered his first wife in cold blood (or almost).
We do not agree, far away, but circumstances being what they are and the talent of the author being what it is, we are caught in a web that can not diabolical that lead us to believe that the act of Max, if convicted, is not so incomprehensible.
