Rebecca – movie review

I have been a big time fan of Hitchcock. Watching his movies “Birds”, “Rear Window”, bits and pieces of “Psycho”, for I could never watch it fully, have given me nightmares whenever I watched them. May be there is an inexplicable magic in black & white movies, that gives an aura of authenticity about the stories. Rebecca, after watching the movie while I was googling for the story writer got to know that, had been one of the master’s masterpiece and the one I saw on Netflix is a re-adaptation. They’ve done their best not to mess up the story line and since I didn’t see the older version, watched this one with no expectation. Upfront, credit to Daphne du maurier, the author of the book which has been made into the movie. For some reason, certain names gets stuck in your mind and this is one such name. I’ve never read any of her books before, but as part of quiz competition during school days, we used to mug up all capitals, currencies and famous authors. This name for some reason got stuck right from that time. Going by the story line, I felt “Intrigue” or “suspense” would’ve been an much apt title!! The story revolves majorly around a character who is omnipresent but non-existent!!! You never get to see “Rebecca” as a person, but her presence couldn’t be more haunting. There are certain scenes that scare more than horror stories involving ghosts!! Such is the realistic portrayal of those situations that anyone will get jump scares!! More than fear, it’s the sheer adrenaline rush or the annoying presence of a person perceived dead, how her stamp is revealed on every single thing on a palatial house, how her personality has charmed everyone on her vicinity, this and lot more of loneliness is more than sufficient to drive any sane person mad!! The story is set upon times when ladies, heroines especially, were portrayed as weak hearted and innocent. The leading lady of this movie is amazingly original. The way she enacts the innocent timid person all throughout to turn into that confidence fueled wife, bent on proving her husband’s innocence, which gets acknowledged by her husband in the end, is tantamount to her performance and skill. She brings to life the lady traumatized by the one she has replaced as lady of the manor. The settings, the back ground, everything adds to the mystery. The ending is an interesting twist and would spoil the fun for those who are planning to see the movie. I haven’t read the novel, but to me it felt like watching a book  revealing itself, word by word. The only sore point being the hero character who would’ve given competition for mannequin and would’ve still come second, in emoting and performance. He is either overboard or non-existent on the scenes involving him. A nice watch and makes me wonder how the master would’ve made it in the original form!! Pity his movies are not much on OTT!!