Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca

Rebecca (1940) was a classic film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and is remembered for several reasons.

For one, it was the only one of Hitchcock's movies to win Best Picture (although he didn't win statuette because he didn't produce the movie). For another, it cemented actress Joan Fontaine as mega star actress (between her turns in The Women in 1939 and another Hitchcock movie, Suspicion in 1941 for which she won the Oscar, Fontaine was definitely having some couple of good years).

Lastly, it is remembered for its lesbian subtext of possible unrequited love.

Rebecca tells the the story of the second bride (Fontaine) of a wealthy man (Laurence Olivier) who finds that she has to compete with the memory of his first wife, the deceased Rebecca.

Pushing that competition hard is the maid of the house, Mrs. Danvers (Dame Judith Anderson in absolutely diabolical performance) who seemed to have had a serious cruch on Rebecca.

Although the movie never comes out and says this, it leaves it to audience interpretation throughout many scenes as Mrs. Danvers plays tricks on Fontaine to slowly drive her mad or get her to commit suicide.

But the one scene which stands out is where she shows Fontaine the bedroom of the deceased Rebecca. It's eerie and pitiful at both the same time:



Then things take an ugly turn when we find out that Rebecca was murdered. By whom is not a shock (it wasn't Mrs. Danvers) but the reason why is tells us just what type of person Rebecca was.

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