I won't complain about the lovely costumes and scenery, the gawkable high-end interiors or the attractive cast. Lily James' costumes are to die for, even the demure little blouses and tweed skirts she wears when she returns to Manderly with her dashing husband Maxim. If anything, the actors are TOO pretty, especially Armie Hammer. Yes, James' bobbed blonde hair is glaringly fake against her brown eyes and crisp dark eyebrows (seriously, WHY do they always make her a blond?), but at least the style is period appropriate and highlights her sensible wardrobe and English Rose prettiness. But Hammer's towering, hunky frame, chiseled face and big baby blues make him look more like a GQ model in a Ralph Lauren ad than a 1930s English Posho. His accent is passable, as is his acting. He and James both give perfectly good, if not masterful, performances. They have chemistry and I rooted for their marriage to make it. They make a nice couple. The problem is, they're in the wrong movie.
"Rebecca" is supposed to be a Gothic thriller, not a romantic adventure. Which is not to say it can't have a love story embedded in it. "Jane Eyre" is a love story, but Rochester is a genuinely dark character, and real danger looms (literally) above the heroine's head. Here, the second Mrs. De Winter allows herself to be cowed by Kristen Scott Thomas's (excellent) Mrs. Danvers, who, while disdainful, icy and manipulative, does not seem mentally unhinged enough to be truly terrifying. Even the house itself is just a large, old manor house full of portraits and servants standing at attention....remarkable to a young woman from a humbler background, but not to anyone who has watched other English period pieces. James' character is a fish out of water. Intimidated by her surroundings, especially the wing/rooms that belonged to her predecessor, yes. Unnerved by her husband's uncommunicative moodiness and sleepwalking, yes. But haunted? Driven to near madness? I'm not convinced.
The sinister sexual undercurrents of Hitchcock's version are also missing. They really only rear their heads when the talk and action turn to horses (sorry!). It seems that whereas Mrs. DW2 doesn't even know how to ride., the aristocrat Rebecca, as Mrs. D tells her in racy detail, could break any stallion. Ahem. So when Rebecca's dissolute Toff of a cousin (Sam Riley, very good) shows up and sweeps the young bride up onto a horse in front of him for an impromptu lesson, squeezing her thigh and tossing off comments like "just move with me" and "you'll be sore tonight" with (almost) comic creepiness, I was kind of delighted at the diversion. She almost seems more scared here than at any other time, and I don't blame her. Honestly, I think Riley would have been better cast as Maxim. Hammer's version is just too darned wholesome.
And speaking of shifts! (Again, sorry). About 3/4 of the way through the movie, there is a massive Info Dump and the train suddenly switches tracks, lurches off in another direction entirely and goes in and out of a few shadowy tunnels before almost unceremoniously dumping the viewer out at its destination, where I at least was left blinking in the sun. Twists and turns in a mystery are a good thing, and of course the end is supposed to be a surprise. But here, the characters turn on a dime. All at once she, at least, is almost a different person, their relationship transformed. She puts on a (gorgeous) tweed suit and does a whole Nancy-Drew-Goes-Noir bit for about five minutes, revelations come fast and furious, and......here we are! Wait, what? Where? The end, tacked on from the original, is satisfying in a way, but also random.
The movie is engaging and beautiful. No one embarrasses himself or herself. If you like the book, like period pieces and mysteries and lovely things, then watch it. But don't expect to be on the edge of your seat. This isn't one for the ages.
