What filmmaking techniques does Rebecca use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Rebecca (1940): Gothic Mansion Symbolism, Unreliable Narrator, Psychological Doubling and Production Design as Psychological Space.

Who directed Rebecca?

Alfred Hitchcock directed Rebecca, released in 1940. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).

What films are similar to Rebecca?

Films that share techniques with Rebecca include Amadeus (1984), Gone Girl (2014), The Power of the Dog (2021), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Drama · Mystery · Romance

Rebecca

Alfred Hitchcock, 1940

A shy young woman marries a wealthy widower and moves into his imposing Cornwall estate. She soon feels overwhelmed by the presence of his first wife, Rebecca, who seems to live on in every room and every relationship. It's Hitchcock's Hollywood debut and his only Best Picture winner.

2 Cinematography 1 Narrative 1 Psychology

At a glance

Rebecca is a 1940 drama, mystery and romance film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography, 1 narrative and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Amadeus uses several of the same techniques.

Cinematography

Gothic Mansion Symbolism

Setting the story in a large, decaying or out-of-date house that mirrors its owner's mind. The building shows the feelings and history that keep the people inside trapped.

How this film uses it

Manderley is a character in this film. Its corridors and its west wing are each full of Rebecca's personality, and Mrs. Danvers has kept it all as a shrine. The new Mrs. de Winter can't live in her own home because a dead woman already fills it. The house is the main tool the film uses to get inside her head.

Where to see it

The narrator's first approach to Manderley. The estate is so large and so beautiful that you know at once she cannot hope to fill it.

Narrative

Unreliable Narrator

Telling the story through a character you can't trust, because they are lying, mentally unwell or fooling themselves. At some point, you have to rethink what you were told.

How this film uses it

The unnamed narrator misreads everything she comes across at Manderley. She sees Maxim's moods, Mrs. Danvers's hostility and the mood of the household through her own sense of not being good enough. Hitchcock builds the film so you share her misreadings. That is why the film's reveals make you rethink everything that came before them.

Where to see it

The narrator's reading of every interaction with Mrs. Danvers. Her anxiety makes her misread things, and the film gives you no other account to go on.

Psychology

Psychological Doubling

Pairing the main character with a second character who mirrors them. The double shows what the hero wants, fears or secretly is.

How this film uses it

The narrator and Rebecca are doubles, each the other's shadow. One is alive and feels inadequate. The other is dead and perfect. The narrator can't be herself because a ghost already holds the role of 'Mrs. de Winter'. Her whole story is about claiming an identity someone else took first. She also discovers that the ideal she can never match was itself made up.

Where to see it

The fancy dress ball. The narrator wears Rebecca's costume without knowing it. In a single scene, she literally becomes Rebecca's double, and it is a disaster.

Cinematography

Production Design as Psychological Space

Designing the sets to reflect what is going on inside a character. The place they live in tells you things about them that the dialogue doesn't.

How this film uses it

Everything in Manderley's design is Mrs. Danvers's memorial to Rebecca: the preserved bedroom, the monogrammed linens, the exact placement of objects. The sets go beyond getting the period right. They are a portrait of obsessive grief arranged in 3 dimensions. The narrator has to find her way around a house that is a home and a shrine at the same time.

Where to see it

The west wing. Mrs. Danvers shows the narrator Rebecca's preserved room. Here, the sets say the most about what is going on in these characters' heads.

Questions

Rebecca: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Rebecca use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Rebecca (1940): Gothic Mansion Symbolism, Unreliable Narrator, Psychological Doubling and Production Design as Psychological Space.
Who directed Rebecca?: Alfred Hitchcock directed Rebecca, released in 1940. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).
What films are similar to Rebecca?: Films that share techniques with Rebecca include Amadeus (1984), Gone Girl (2014), The Power of the Dog (2021), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

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