MovieChat Forums > Rebecca (1940) Discussion > The other body...

The other body...

posted 11 years ago by Refnom95
3 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this movie for the first time and really enjoyed it but felt like I've missed something huge. What's with this other body that Maxim falsely identified as Rebecca? It makes absolutely no sense to me. The fact that I've checked all the message boards and no one has brought this up leads me to believe that surely I've missed something. So Maxim sent Rebecca's body off to sea to sink to remove all evidence that he had anything to do with her death. So Rebecca is then presumably considered missing as no one else knew about this. And then what? Some other girl who looks exactly like Rebecca drowns in the exact same place that Maxim drowned Rebecca's corpse? And her body is found and someone thinks it could be Rebecca? And then what, Maxim thinks it would be a good idea to PRETEND it is? Like that would do anything but incriminate him later on if anyone figured out he was lying? And what about this poor girl, does no one notice that she goes missing? Is there no investigation into her death? SURELY I'm missing something here. This is killing me, someone help me out...

[–] hka-3 11 years ago

Maxim said the first body found was "the body of some unknown woman, unclaimed, belonging nowhere." It could've been a homeless woman...who knows. Theoretically the bodies could be somewhat unrecognizable after being in the ocean for a while. When the real body of Mrs. DeWinter was found (wearing jewelry Mrs. DeWinter had owned), some people assumed Maxim was distraught when the first body was found and that's why he mistakenly identified it as Mrs. DeWinter.

Some other girl who looks exactly like Rebecca drowns in the exact same place that Maxim drowned Rebecca's corpse?

It wouldn't have to be the exact same place since the ocean current, or even sea life, could've carried the bodies anywhere.

[–] Druff (1802) 4 years ago

They also said that the other girl's body washed up 40 miles away from Manderley. Could have originated god knows where. They were looking for a recent drowning victim and apparently she was the closest one within reasonable range. No doubt such a lucky coincidence is contrived, but most works of fiction are in one way or another.

[–] liscarkat (18541) 4 years ago

It was a body that washed up two months after Rebecca had gone missing on her boat. After that long in the ocean it would not have been recognizable and Maxim could have gotten away with claiming he believed it was Rebecca.