When I learned a Rebecca adaptation would be released this year, I wept tears of sorrow, isn't 2020 bad enough already? After I saw the trailer, I was incredibly underwhelmed and saddened by the direction: they sexualized this film. Yes, I am aware people had sex back then! Montages of Maxim and the would-be Mrs. de Winter heavily making out and having sex on the beach was not something I read. Did I miss something? Do I have to reread the book again? Sex is fine, but adding it to spice up the story and not add any depth is like adding jump-scares in a horror movie; it's a cop-out, and one should focus on honing their writing and storytelling skills. Maybe it's my idealism, but he fell in love with her for her youngness and inexperience in the books, not for her sexuality.
A third of the way in, I couldn't handle it anymore. Lily James perfectly captures Mrs. de Winter's insecurity and naivety; the costuming is gorgeous; the scenery is picturesque, but it doesn't seem like the story I fell in love it years ago. Isn't Mrs. Van Hopper American? She's a bit annoying and rude, but she's downright awful in the movie. She's somehow worse than Mrs. Bennet, which is a feat, but not something to be proud of. Where is the beautiful Manderley I dreamt of going to as I read it? When they pulled up to the house, I thought: "what is the drab-looking building, and where are the flowers; we nearly suffocate reading about the flowers' description in the books!" And Armie Hammer's British accent...
TL;DR. Don't watch this; watch the Hitchcock version!
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