Daphne
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Movie Reviews of Daphne
Movie Review: The Romancer
Summary: 3 Stars
Daphne du Maurier provided nothing if not great stories, both in her novels (which continue to be underappreciated for their intelligence and subtleties, particularly in the United States) and in her tumultuous life. The adored second child of the great man of the theatre Gerald du Maurier, Daphne internalized her father's homophobia and spent most of her life tormented by her yearnings for women and by her sense of herself as a "boy in a box"; though married to "Tommy" browning with whom she raised three adored children at the great Cornish house she rented for much of her life, Menabilly, she was distracted by the parts of herself that did not fit so neatly into that life.
This beautifully produced BBC drama covers Du Maurier's life from after the Second World War, when her husband returned home from service, to the early 1950s, and involves three of the major relationships of her life: her relationship with her husband (at this point strained and devoid of physical passion); her unrequired love for her friend Ellen Doubleday, the socialite wife of her American publisher; and her most sexually satisfying relationship with the great actress Gertrude Lawrence. The sets and the lighting for this sumptuously mounted production are first-rate, as is the actress playing Du Maurier, Geraldine Somerville, who brings much nuance and intelligence to the part. But Somerville is let down here both by the screenplay and by her co-stars. The story here emphasizes the somewhat crankier parts of Du Maurier, including her sense of being constantly besieged by her fans (which here makes her seem a bit of an ingrate) and her particular frustration at only being known for writing REBECCA. But the screenwriters and producers only have her friends and Daphne herself ever mention REBECCA among all of her novels she had written up to this point (they apparently didn't trust their audience would remember even FRENCHMAN'S CREEK or JAMAICA INN), and since Daphne seems to be constantly comparing people and events in her life to those in REBECCA she seems something of a hypocrite rather than just at odds with herself (as the real Du Maurier was). Worse, Elizabeth McGovern and Janet McTeer seem quite miscast as Du Maurier's two new loves, Ellen Doubleday and Gertrude Lawrence (respectively). McGovern seems much too frivolous and ditsy to play Doubleday, given that Du Maurier here sees her friend as a dazzling and glamorous figure comparable to Rebecca de Winter herself; and while McTeer can bring off the coarser aspects of Lawrence well enough, and even her frustrated disappointments in Du Maurier, she fails to make us see why this woman would have been seen as the most charismatic and sophisticated woman in the British theatre in her day. You feel as if the whole undertaking doesn't quite live up to what it could have been, or capture your attention and your sympathies in the way Du Maurier's story deserves.
Movie Review: The secret love life of Daphne du Maurier based on personal letters
Summary: 5 Stars
In this BBC biopic, Daphne's secret love life is explored, who is the author
of Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and many more popular beloved novels. She is one
of the best-loved writers of all time. The film is based on personal letters
and various biographies. Daphne calls herself "a boy in a box" and this
revealing drama shows how her incendiary love life informed her writing. The
film charts the story of Daphne's unrequited passion for the beautiful, wealthy
and glamorous American heiress Ellen Doubleday, and how the play she wrote
about this forbidden desire led her to a life-changing love affair with the
irreverent, fun loving actress Gertrude Lawrence. Gertrude is played by
Janet McTeer, a British Actor who has become well known in America, and
is known for her ease of playing characters so diverse in her films,
sometimes she is completely unrecognizable from film to film. The movie
has a magnificent cast, with the setting in the 1940's and 1950's.