16 days to go: Rebecca (March, 23)

What a stunning movie. 

This poster is so freaking weird

Rebecca, by Alfred Hichcock, a "picturization of the celebrated novel by Dauphne Du Maurier", is a sight to the eyes. The scenes are so perfectly built, there's no way not to be enchanted. The old bugger gave us a movie lesson in a bit over 2 hours that transcends its time.

I intended to watch Notorious on this day, but my mother asked me to see it with her (she is right at this moment in front of my TV doing just that, while I get things done in the house - and in this blog :). Rebecca sounded as a fit alternative. I've read the book and watched the movie when I was fourteen, and the only memory of that was the masked ball fiasco (a very anguished scene I think).

It is a Gothic tale of love, lost, secret reasons, crazy maids, malevolence, as we expect from the English manors. It is over dramatic, something that invaded all the popular romantic novels for a long while. The mysterious rich guy that gives nothing about himself to the naive young girl he marries in a whim. He expects her to fit his world in a sec - it is not a simple world, filled with madness, lies, secret reasons. 

However, in front of the masterpiece that is this movie in technical terms, all that is secondary, even a bit endearing, a perfect match the whole light and shadows game beautifully. A movie to be revisited from time to time. 

There's a lot of interesting info in the imdb.com trivia. The thing about Lawrence Olivier being awful to the stunning Joan Fontaine was sad, actually. Vivien Leigh didn't need his outrage on her behalf (she was a contender for the role of Mrs. de Winter (a character without a first name, it is very symptomatic). She was a good enough actress to fight her own battles, thank you, Olivier. 

Rebecca. Directed by Alfred Hichcock. Cast: Joan Fontaine, Lawrence Olivier,
George Sanders. Writers: Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison (screen play);
Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan  (adaptation), based on the "celebrated
novel" by Dauphne Du Marier. USA, 1940, Mono, Black and White, 130 min.