Review of Rebecca

I enjoyed this version of Rebecca very much. This one is more focused on the romance than the excellent version from Hitchcock. It must be said that the romance in this version is more realistic than the one with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Do not get me wrong, I adore the film. But it was quite obvious that the late, great LO was much younger than his alter ego Maxim the Winter. I found the romance in this mini series more convincing because some scenes where added which are not in the book (the honeymoon for instance). It gives the character of Maxim De Winter more warmth and passion. Charles Dance has the advantage that he is about the same age as Maxim and therefore (in my honest opinion) more convincing than LO. Mr. Dance is an excellent actor and he gives a very good performance as Maxim. I was also quite pleased with the performance of Emillia Fox. I had never heard of her before, but I hope to see more of her work in the future. Her portrayal of a young insecure woman who tries to cope with the memory of her husband's first wife was quite impressive. Faye Dunaway made a very amusing Mrs. Van

Hopper. Diana Rigg portrays Mrs. Danvers rather as a tragic character than as a villain. I found this approach very refreshing.

I would also like to add something to a comment made earlier in another review of this mini-series. Someone mentioned that the second Mrs. De Winter first name is Caroline, because in the party scene she is announced as Lady Caroline De Winter. This is of course completely wrong. Lady Caroline is the name of the lady from the painting. It is not Mrs. De Winter's first name, which isn't mentioned at all. I hope that this clears this matter once and for all.