Rebecca (1997) (Part 1)

Part 1 of 2 of the 1997 adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's novel. While working as a companion to a rich American woman on holiday in Monte Carlo, a young girl meets the rich and mysterious Maxim De Winter, a widower whose wife Rebecca drowned in a boating accident a year ago. Despite their age difference, they find themselves falling in love and when Maxim proposes to her she sees her chance to escape her life of servitude. But little does she know what she is letting herself in for as she goes to live with him at the country estate Maderley. She finds herself intimidated by the presence of the housekeeper Mrs Danvers. And Maxim himself proves a man of many moods, reluctant to talk of his past wife or to allow her to visit the west wing of the house. And as the months pass she begins to wonder more and more about the enigmatic Rebecca and just how she came to meet her end... Starring Emilia Fox, Charles Dance, Diana Rigg, Geraldine James, Jean Anderson, Faye Dunaway, Jonathan Cake, Tom Chadbon, Denis LilJohn Bramwell, John Horsley, Jonathan Stokes, Kelly Reilly, Wendy MacAdam and Carla Mendonca (who some viewers may recognize from kids show My Parents Are Aliens). This was originally broadcast on ITV on consecutive nights on January 5th and 6th 1997 and one of my charity shop finds. It proved to be a crucial role for an up and coming Emilia Fox in her first lead role and she does a decent job in what in truth is an average adaptation of Daphne Dy Maurier's novel. It is dominated by Charles Dance as Maxim, but that is also part of it's problem. Compared to Laurence Olivier and Jeremy Brett, Dance's character comes across as somewhat grumpy and you wonder at times why Fox's nameless heroine - you never find out her first name - fell for him. Even Diana Rigg is pushed into a supporting role in this 1st part, not seen until the final half hour, though she has a good scene with Fox towards the end of this part. Part 2 however does pick up and will follow this video shortly. Please note that this contains some nudity.