The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Rebecca
written by Joan Harrison, Michael Hogan, Philip McDonald & Robert E. Sherwood
Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca is filled, as
we should expect, with surprises and twists. It is a model "3-act paradigm"
story, well worth studying in detail.
Structural Analysis:
- The Hook (2 min.)
- The future "second" Mrs. de Winter finds Maxim de Winter at the
edge of a cliff over the sea, seemingly ready to jump, and stops him.
- The Complication (5 min.)
- The future Mrs. de Winter (the hero) learns that Maxim can't get
over his wife's death. Her name was Rebecca.
- Hero's Call to Action (16 min.)
- The future wife, a companion to a wealthy woman who travels, learns
she must leave for NY immediately - and, having fallen in love with Maxim,
goes to great pains to say goodbye.
- Plot Point: Act I (20-27 min.)
- Maxim proposes rather than let her get away, they marry quietly and
relocate to his estate above the sea, called Mandelay. 2nd wife meets
housekeeper, who immediately despises any replacement for Rebecca.
- Plot point: midpoint (59 min.)
- Marital strife. Wife: "We're happy, aren't we?" Maxim: "Happiness
is something I know nothing about."
- Plot point: Act II (87 min.)
- Maxim tells second Mrs. de Winter about true circumstances of
Rebecca's death. He learned she was pregnant by another man, struck her,
she hit her head and died. He put her on boat and faked accidental
drowning. But now boat has been found, truth may be learned.
- Climax & Resolution (120 min.)
- New inquest investigation learns Rebecca had cancer and only
months to live - official verdict is suicide. Housekeeper cannot stand
new Mrs. de Winter and Maxim to be happy, burns down Mandelay.
Big Sequences
Big sequences here are quiet and visual:
- 2nd Mrs. de Winter's adjustment, a stranger at Mandelay, wandering
lost through the huge mansion.
- Recovery of Rebecca's boat during a wreck at sea.
- Mandelay burning to the ground, the housekeeper going down with
the ship.
Notes
Other things to notice:
- Foreshadowing:
- Lots of references and hints about
Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter - about her beauty and ability to run
Mandelay, as well as about her drowning and how upset Maxim gets from any
reference to her death. All this foreshadowing, however, works for
a different purpose than we suspect. As in Chinatown, we get
the right information but context leads us to put the wrong
meaning on it.
- Reversals:
- We are led to believe Maxim was happy with Rebecca,
and we learn the opposite. All the foreshadowing gets a new twist. This
is not done "illogically" - there is no trickery here. Indeed, Maxim has
told us the truth when he says, "Happiness is something I know nothing about" but
we don't take him as literally as he means it, that he was never happy
with Rebecca. The lens through which we've been given information
leads us to a false conclusion, one that will be reversed later.
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
[BACK TO TEXT]
8/97