Brief Story Line
A young British woman (Lily James - Baby Driver, Cinderella etc) who was working as the companion of Mrs. Van Hopper (Ann Dowd - The Handmaid's Tales TV series etc) met with a wealthy widower named Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer - Cars 3, Hotel Mumbai etc) and immediately hit it off. They soon got married and returned back to Maxim's large mansion called Manderley which was run by the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas - The Darkest Hour, The English Patient etc).
As the new Mrs. de Winter trying to fit in to her new role, she would find herself fighting against the shadow of Rebecca, the former Mrs. de Winter and realized there were so many things she must be prepared of.
So what would happen to her? Find them all in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Honestly, I was intrigued by this movie because it was said to be the second adaptation of the 1938 novel of the same title written by Daphne du Maurier with the first adaptation done by the famous Alfred Hitchcock in 1940. I always regard Hitchcock highly because of some of his truly amazing works, so I was hopeful this movie would be exciting as well (especially seeing that 1940 version even won 2 Academy Awards). However, since I never saw that one, I could not give a comparison between these two movies.
Anyway, when I watched this film, I personally felt that the story was developing quite slow in the earlier part. Not until they finally moved to Manderley that things started to get a bit more interesting. Even then the story muchly revolved around Mrs. de Winter's adjusting herself into the mansion. Somehow I think the mysterious/spooky dark element was missing here, making it less intriguing and captivating for me.
Luckily though after more than half way through, the pace picked up fast, though it made me feel like the director suddenly woke up and realized he must finish the movie soon and everything must be resolved quickly. This was the time when I finally got excited which sadly made me think the movie was inconsistent in term of pace and tone. And I also thought that perhaps they could make the ending a bit different from the novel, just to make it having a bit of additional twist and shocking to audience (but that's just my opinion). The musical background was so so, but the cinematography, settings and the costumes were wonderful. There was a strong Downton Abbey sense when they moved to Manderley mansion (funnily enough, Lily James also appeared in that series). It has a duration of 121 minutes without any mid or post end credit scenes.
The cast here in particular Lily James was great. I thought she portrayed the character perfectly from the innocent young woman in the beginning to a woman who need to instantly change her personality towards the end. While Kristin Scott Thomas was OK but somehow I felt she was not chilling and intimidating enough. The rest of the cast were fine, but I thought Ann Dowd was amazing. She was really convincing as the obnoxious rich lady. Apart from the main cast, there was also the appearance of Sam Riley (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Radioactive etc) as Jack Favell, Tom Goodman-Hill as Frank Crawley, Keeley Hawes (High-Rise etc) as Maxim's sister Beatrice and few others.
Overall I think this movie was lacking a bit in the mystery/eerie part. Although the film was categorized as romantic thriller, but I personally think it could have been done better. Despite the main cast Lily James and Armie Hammer insistence that this is not a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 movie, but because it was adapted from the same novel, one could not be faulted for expecting it to be a modern version of it. Perhaps I should look for the Hitchcock's version to satisfy my curiosity?
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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