Rebecca (Netflix, 2020)

Spoilers alert.

As someone who neither read the novel nor saw the other cinematic interpretation of said novel, I began viewing Netflix's Rebecca with a blank slate for a mind. Netflix occasionally produces worthy films, why wouldn't this one be one of those? I am an optimist.

The film starts out benignly enough with a forgettable and naive protagonist, an unnamed young woman of middling looks wading through the mire of class warfare that in a typical British stiff upper lip fashion comes with polite smiles and the biting disdain for "the staff" in particular and the poor at large. The young woman works as a companion for an older woman of means who mocks the protagonist mercilessly yet is incapable of seeing her own pandering to the rich when the other protagonist, Mr. Maxim De Winter, a nobleman of considerable means, appears at the same hotel to nurse his heartbreak on the continent. 

The unnamed woman and Mr. De Winter begin a whirlwind unlikely romance that ends with a wedding and a consequent relocation to Manderley, a familial estate in Cornwell. The newly minted Mrs. De Winter enters the world of Manderley that seems to be dedicated entirely to the previous Mrs. De Winter who is no longer there but might as well have never left. 

That is all of the recap I am willing to do as as a set up that prepares us for either a gothic and terrifying fairy tale, or a psychological thriller, or both. What you get, however, is not only neither, but a sophomoric exercise in futility on the part of either the screenwriters or the director - it remains to be determined - that sets the viewer up for an unraveling of lukewarm, badly paced crime drama with low stakes, boring characters, and a slew of forgettable and coincidental characters that ultimately end up contributing exactly nothing to the film. In other words, the film has a number of rifles hanging on the wall, but none of them fire. 

The only character of any interest in the entire film is Mrs. Danvers (played by the otherworldly Kristin Scott Thomas whose talent is wasted on this film). Her character arc never comes to what may have been, instead allowing the character to project darkness and foreboding horror only to never deliver on it in any substantive fashion. She sets the fire to the mansion, but as a climax to the film and her character arc, it is toothless and disappointing. The set up for the fire never works; this and so many other cinematic promises made to the viewer throughout the film are never delivered on. The issue for me here is that the unfulfilled promises were not simply a let down, they felt like a spit on the face as the film could have been significantly stronger, more interesting, better told, and clearer in its intentions.

As it stands, this film has a multiple personality disorder. On one hand, it's a period drama, on another hand, it's a gothic horror, and in some way also a psychological thriller. The only personality that is fleshed out fully is the period drama personality. The sets are luscious, outfits are lovely, estates are stunning. Perhaps this film was meant to  be viewed with the sound off because all there is to it is the visual aspect which, frankly speaking, is absolutely worth every penny. However, for a purely visual experience, I would recommend other films that manage to pack not only the beautiful imagery but also manage to deliver a potent message. Baraka and Samsara come to mind as well as Ashes and Snow.

I did finish watching Rebecca only for the sake of seeing if the film ever improves. It doesn't. Save yourself time and watch something else.