Leonardo Yagerman

March 11, 2022

Reaction Paper
Rebecca
1)Narrative
This story is based on a book by the same name, of the author Daphne du Maurier. The story
starts in Monte Carlo as a high-class woman, by the name of Mrs. Van Hopper, that is having
a vacation in a hotel, but has also taken her assistant with her, a girl whose parents both died
and decided to take the job with her. Her name was soon to be Mrs. De Winter because in this
vacation she met a man called Maxim De Winter, a rich man who had lost his wife in a boat
accident a year prior. Both meet each other in this hotel and fall in love quickly and start
passing a lot of time together in this vacation, from dining together to going on drives to be
with each other. One day Mrs. Van Hopper receives a call informing her that her daughter is
getting married and must leave immediately, but her assistant doesn’t want to leave without
saying goodbye to his lover, but when doing so he proposes marriage to her, and both accept
and she leaves with him to live in his house, Manderley. Once they get married and arrive at
the house the staff is waiting for them in the lobby, that’s where we met a very important
character, Mrs. Danvers, a maid who always makes Mrs. De Winter feel awful saying things
as she will never fulfill the void left by the last one. This affects very much Mrs. De Winter
and makes her feel very alienated and as if she doesn’t belong there, which leads her to be
miserable a lot of the time. A pivotal point in the film is when they organize a costume ball,
and when Mrs. De Winter wanted to have a surprise costume Danvers gives her a suggestion
which was done on purpose to make Maxim feel mad because it was the same costume
Rebecca wore years prior. She feels like Maxim will never love her how he loved Rebecca
but later it is revealed that in fact both hated each other but never got a divorce to keep honor
intact, and rather Rebecca was cheating on him with Mr. Favell. Maxim was aware of this
and one day when they got home from a party Maxim went and confronted her and she
wanted to die, but didn’t reveal this, but wanted Maxim to be the one that did this, instead she
tripped and hit her head with one of the metal parts of a ship and died. One day the police
made another incursion on the case and had to make another interrogation to everyone
involved and Favell tried to blackmail and sink Maxim, but when investigating they got to the
point of talking with her doctor and found out she had cancer, that is why she wanted to be
killed which cleared all of Maxim’s worries. But finally, Mrs. Danvers goes crazy and
doesn’t want the couple to live together happily in Manderley, so she burns down the house,
when Maxim was coming back he sees this and gets worried. Luckily, the couple and the dog
were safe and sound but Mrs. Danvers got trapped in the house and died.
2)Character Map
Mrs. De Winter: A girl who lost both her parents, she is young and beautiful but is working
as an assistant to a rich lady (Mrs. Van Hopper), she gets married to Maxim De Winter but
never feels fulfilled until the end of the film because of her own insecurities and doubts.
Mrs. Van Hopper: A rich woman who is Mrs. De Winter’s boss prior to getting married. She
is the stereotypical lady that lives by appearances and money. In the film, she only serves as a
way to introduce Mrs. De Winter’s personality.
Maxim De Winter: A very wealthy man who is the owner of a big house, Manderley, in
London. He had lost his wife a year prior, and felt awful for many reasons learned during the
film. He falls in love with the narrator and that is the part when the story starts going forward.
Mrs. Danvers: A maid in Manderley who was very close to Rebecca and never could fathom
the idea that another woman could take Rebecca’s place, so she was always jealous and angry
at her trying to force her out by any means necessary. She ends up losing her mind and dying.
Jack Favell: Rebecca’s lover who is shown as one of the bad guys who tried to reveal all the
bad things of Maxim’s relationship with Rebecca. Tries to blackmail Maxim but ended up
losing.
3)Three Quotes
“She was the beautiful Rebecca, but he’s a broken man” quote that reflects and sets the tone
of the movie stating the death of Maxim’s wife.
“Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?” Mrs. Danvers tells the narrator that
she will never fill the void of Rebecca trying to make her feel miserable, this happens in the
middle of the movie when there’s the scene in Rebecca’s room in the west wing.
“What was wrong with her?”
“Cancer”
This is the turning point in the film when we realize many of the things that happened the
night Rebecca died, and we know that Maxim will be free as the victim of his wife’s death.
4)Discussion of the film
This is a brilliant film done as an adaptation of the book, the feelings evoked by emotionless
characters like Mrs. Danvers is brilliant writing and execution but also the technical elements
of the film like the camera work is brilliant, many different shots using elevation and weird
angles to reflect and evoke different emotions on the spectator, also the use of mirrors in the
scenes starts being used in a better way, finally the scene placement. In the scene when the
narrator is being shown the room in awe by Danvers and sits down in the mirror there is a
picture of Maxim who is always watching her while Mrs. Danvers bombs her with many and
many hard to swallow statements about Rebecca, about her perfection and richness and
sophistication; this part in particular when she sits down the scene and the characters are
placed brilliantly to symbolize the constant presence and importance of Maxim when
Rebecca is being mentioned. In conclusion, this film had incredible writing and plot
development while remaining easy to watch.