Akanksha Kataria

1 August 2022
July Director’s Report: Rebecca – A Study of a Director’s Compromise
My favorite Alfred Hitchcock film is Rebecca. Released in 1940, Rebecca is one of Hitchcock’s
earlier works; it is from a time when he had less creative control over his projects. However, I
think it really is a standout that still holds up as an excellent film by modern standards.
Rebecca is one of Hitchcock’s few films that can be considered a true film noir, employing
elements of suspense, darkness, and a general cynicism about marriage and class mobility.
Additionally, the movie has a “femme fatale” in the form of the never-seen Rebecca, Maxim’s
late wife. I always felt that Joan Fontaine, who stars as the unnamed girl and narrator of the film,
had such a strong performance – getting her character down perfectly to the mannerisms and
voice inflections of an insecure, neurotic young woman. In the time I have spent acting, her
character was one that stuck with me as she felt so real and genuine as a person. I am not sure
how Hitchcock was able to pull such a raw performance from her, but Joan’s performance still
represents a person that feels real to me, 80 years later. Moments that depict the main character
knocking over an expensive antique and hiding the pieces in a drawer, dropping her glove and
picking it up in front of her own butler, and her nearly running to the door as Maxim proposes to
her, tell a strong, clear story of the main character’s class status and her insecurity surrounding
that. I don’t know if these were all scripted moments or improvised by Joan Fontaine, but these
short actions really stuck with me.
As Hitchcock’s first American Hollywood film, Rebecca experienced significant clashes
between its creative forces, producer David O. Selznick and Hitchcock himself. Selznick pushed
for a strong structure and characterization true to the original novel, while Hitchcock fought to
take significant creative liberties that would make the story feel more involved. Hitchcock later
referred to this movie as a “compromise.” I found that the compromise actually works well
between the subtlety that Hitchcock employs when using homosexual innuendos that even went
over the heads of the censor boards at the time, and Selznick’s knack for strongly developed
characters and epic-style filmmaking. We end up with a film that brings us into the mysterious,
brooding world of Manderley and gives us powerful insights into the relationships and
personalities of characters such as Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca. I adored how the movie struck a
balance between the evocative, narrative voice of the main character and yet still developed
strong personalities within all of its main cast – Maxim De Winter, Mrs. Danvers, Jack Favell,
and even Rebecca, who is never seen in the movie.
Rebecca also was ahead of its time in many ways and was the product of many filmmaking firsts,
which I think makes it such an enthralling film. This was Hitchcock’s first experience using a
tracking camera in his films, which follows Rebecca as she moves around the large, daunting
mansion in Manderley – putting us directly in her shoes. Additionally, with Rebecca being
Hitchcock’s Hollywood debut, he needed to strike a balance between his taste for harsh, deadpan
British humor and the humor familiar to American audiences. I believe that this is how we ended
up with the hilariously and yet tragically awkward and insecure main character, which elicits
much of the film’s moments of dark humor and helps her feel more real to us as an audience. The
use of lighting and the darkness often employed in Manderley’s scenes, along with close-ups of
Max and the main character during their argumentative scenes create an overwhelming sense of
fear and terror for the girl’s well-being.
Meanwhile, the fact that Selznick demanded that Hitchcock stay within his realm and keep the
film true to the novel’s structure really helped the characters’ development in the film. Rebecca
and Max both undergo significant changes as the truth of Rebecca’s death is revealed, with both
becoming significantly more mature and honest with each other towards the end. My belief is
that given the control, Hitchcock would have gone a bleaker route, with both characters
becoming distant and disdainful of each other toward the end, or Maxim facing a worse fate than
he did in the novel. I actually liked that the film showed a redemption arc and growth for these
characters, which subverted my expectations in watching a dark, gothic film. While the bleak,
dry themes of Hitchcock’s films work for his other thrillers, I liked that he was forced to
compromise on these characters – which causes them to retain a stronger presence in my
memory. Meanwhile, Hitchcock still added his signature touches, with the sexual innuendos
surrounding Mrs. Danvers and the general feeling of darkness and despair within the Manderley
estate.
Ultimately, I don’t believe that a compromise on a director’s vision is necessarily a negative;
sometimes I think it can make for a truly nuanced and beautifully told story. In the case of
Rebecca, I believe that Hitchcock’s “compromises” actually worked to the film’s advantage,
with the movie creating an even more powerful sense of suspense and terror due to its excellent
character development and structure.