How do you guys think the film would've played out if
The Second Mrs De Winter had been a lot more stronger from the get go or similar to Rebecca. Not cruel as she was, she'd still be her nice kind self but in terms of how she was percieved ergo: being considered as beautiful, etc but in a more pure, gracious way. Sort of like a person who is stunningly beautiful but they geninely don't know it or are quiet to regard compliments seriously .
So that Maxim fell for her because of her personality and because she was good version of what Rebecca would've been if she hadn't been such a cruel pyschopath- if the facade she put on for others was actually her real self.
Do you think it would affect the way the film ended ie: the reaction to the discovery of the body, Max confessiong, Miss Danvers burning down Manderley?
I think if the Second Mrs De Winter has been more like Rebecca I get the feeling Miss Danvers would have instead of trying to destroy her would have recognize the signs of Rebecca's personality within her and in her deranged mind thought she was Rebecca reincarnated/returned and would have become overly obsessed with her. So she does all the things such as comparing the way Rebecca wrote letters etc but she would do it in a way where she is trying to mould the Second Miss De Winter into Rebecca to replace her. Being nice but sort of forceful like the people who claim to be hardcore fans of a celebrity writing them letters, forcing their idealised image of them putting them on unrealistic pedastels etc. Emotionally manipulating her in buying the exact clothes Rebecca would've worn, getting her hair make up etc like Rebecca.
Also Favell would be trying to seduce the Second Miss De Winter but it fails.
Of course the more the Second Miss De Winter, as implied in the film, begins to look and act like Rebecca the more Maxim becomes distant and she can't understand why.
At first Mrs De Winter would view it as Mrs Danvers being nice and welcoming but then especially after seeing Rebecca's room she'd start to get a sense of how dangerous and obsessive Mrs Danvers truly is.
After the body is discovered I think it would trigger Mrs Danvers and Favell as in the book to start to realise Maxim's involvement in Rebecca's death and THAT would turn Mrs Danvers against them. And the house would still have burnt down.
How about you guys? If The Second Miss De Winter had been a bit less timid how would the film have played out
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