education

REBECCA

Film Screening
3pm, Saturday 18th @ The Orchard Cinema

Joan Fontaine may be the big star on the credits, but it is the very dead Rebecca who steals the show in the eponymous novel, and in this film which marked Alfred Hitchcock's first Hollywood movie, and only Academy Award.

The title of the film is only the start of how Maxim de Winter's first wife haunts this story. Can you explain why Rebecca dominates the film so much, even though she is dead?

Rebecca is about love, obsession and devotion. How many types of love can you find in the film and book? Which type is the most powerful, and why?

Mrs Danvers is an important character. Why does she resent the new Mrs de Winter so much? And why, in the film, does she set fire to Manderley?

You're a detective trying to find out exactly how, and why, Rebecca was killed. You have heard Maxim de Winter's confession, but you think there's more to the incident than he lets on. De Winter claims he killed Rebecca in a jealous rage after finding her with her lover in the boathouse. He had brought his gun with the intention of scaring the pair. But why did he load the gun before he went to the boathouse? And why did he believe someone was with his wife, as only Rebecca's coat and gloves were in the hallway? You believe that Maxim de Winter went to the boathouse with the intention of killing his wife. But how do you prove it?

[A VHS of Rebecca is available to purchase from www.blackstar.co.uk for GBP £7.99]