Rebecca • Netflix • Lily James • Daphne Du Maurier • Armie Hammer • Ben Wheatley • Mrs de Winter • Alfred Hitchcock
How Faithful Is the New Rebecca Movie to the Book by Daphne du Maurier? The newest adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca , which arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, follows the book’s unnamed female narrator—identified in the movie credits only as Mrs. de Winter, her married name—as she meets and weds a wealthy widower in Monte Carlo. While living at his gorgeous English coastal estate Manderley, she becomes consumed with jealousy of her new husband’s deceased first wife, the titular Rebecca, who seems to have been universally worshipped by all who knew her. Below, we break down all the ways the film, directed by Ben Wheatley, compares to du Maurier’s moody best-seller—including how its famous plot twist unfolds. Needless to say, spoilers ahead. Maxim de Winter In the film, the male romantic lead is played by Armie Hammer, who’s extremely handsome in a standard-issue hunk kind of a way, which is very different from how the narrator describes Maxim in the book: “He belonge