MovieChat Forums > Rebecca (1997) Discussion > Was Mrs Danvers Gay?

Was Mrs Danvers Gay?

posted 18 years ago by highpriestess32
27 replies | jump to latest

Obviously she was married at some point but I was confused at her obsession with Rebecca and the way she laid out Rebecca's nightdress and hugged it after starting a fire. She previously said she loved her but I don't know if her love was motherly as she had known Rebecca from childhood or whether she had a different kind of love.

She seemed devastated by the memories and was remaking about still being able to smell Rebecca's scent on the nightdress. I just wondered what we are to make of her obsession and feelings for Rebecca.

There's 3 ways a man can wear his hair; front-parted, side-parted or departed

[–] monet2004 18 years ago

I do get the impression that Mrs. Danvers was gay. I mean her obsession goes much too far, but I don't think the book implies that as much as the movie. The look on their faces when Mrs Danvers says that she was the only one Rebecca truly loved is priceless.

[–] highpriestess32 18 years ago

Hi,

Thanks for offering some insight and for not getting mad at me for posing such a sensitive question! I was a bit dubious about posting it lest some folk thought I was cheapening it in some way when in fact I was genuinely perplexed.

I haven't read the book - one reason it is so good to come to IMDb for often, others have read the novels to certain movies and can help clarify otherwise ambiguous parts. I'm glad I am not the only one to feel that her obsession was a little too overbearing and unnatural.

There's 3 ways a man can wear his hair; front-parted, side-parted or departed

[–] sndform 18 years ago

I think it's a sure thing that Danvers was a lesbian and that there was a sexual relationship between Rebecca and Danvers. Remember when she told about how Rebecca hated all men and how she and Rebecca used to sit and laugh about it? That's a dead give-away.

[–] whitespirit26 13 years ago

Wrong, snd; what that's a giveaway to is that Rebecca thought everyone was a game, that men and their affections and obsessions to her were a game. Mrs. Danvers thought she was "above" human emotion. I did wonder about the statement that she hated all men, but don't turn this into a sick relationship between Danvers and Rebecca, for God's sake. Mrs. Danvers was watching Rebecca since she was LITTLE, and do you really think Rebecca had a thing for old ladies? Get real, and lose the sick stuff, please.

[–] Clothes-Off 18 years ago

She was in the original. Mrs. Danvers is mentioned in The Celluloid Closet--a book which gives a history of film depictions of homosexuality from the beginning. Clips from Rebecca were shown in the documentary film version of TCC, and I believe Dame Judith Andersen mentioned (in a book called Hollywood Lesbians) that that's the way she played her.

Having read Andersen's interview HL and having seen the film version of TCC before seeing the original Rebecca, it seemed pretty obvious to me that Mrs. D. had been in love (or at least lust) with her.

[–] highpriestess32 18 years ago

Thanks very much both for the clarification and thoughts.

There's 3 ways a man can wear his hair; front-parted, side-parted or departed

[–] Clothes-Off 18 years ago

You're welcome.

P.S. I never even thought about the fact that (being a "Mrs.") she must have been married at some point. I'll whoever it was wouldn't have been her first choice!

[–] sndform 18 years ago

The "Mrs." title could very well have been just a cover to help "stay in the closet" so to speak. There used to be many women who bore children out of wedlock and called themselves "Mrs." in order to be considered socially acceptable to the mores of the times.

[–] Virginiana 17 years ago

Actually there's another possible explanation for the "Mrs" title.

In the old English system, servant women who achieved a high position in a great house, especially housekeepers, were honoured with the courtesy title "Mrs" even if they were unmarried (which they usually were). Lower-ranked female servants were usually addressed by their Christian names or surnames alone, or perhaps by their job title ("Nanny" or "Cook").

So I think it highly likely that "Danny" was never married, but was called "Mrs" simply because she was housekeeper of Manderley, one of the great English country houses.

[–] morleys 15 years ago

MRS was a courtesy title given to housekeepers and cooks in large households. It does not necessarily indicate that she was married. She clearly says that she had been with Rebecca since the latter's childhood.

[–] Rubberbandgirl 17 years ago

I really doubt that Rebecca truly loved anyone except Rebecca. I do not think Rebecca loved Mrs. Danvers, and I doubt that they were romantically involved.

But yes, I do think Mrs. Danvers was a lesbian.

Was I right to understand that Rebecca was romantically involved with her COUSIN? Was that considered okay back then? I know that happens with elite England, but ick.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] the sphynx 17 years ago

Yes, Rebecca had a long-running affair with her cousin, and no, it was not considered OK back then. The incestuousness was clearly intended to amplify Rebecca's ick and decadence factors.

[–] whitespirit26 13 years ago

Maxim was right, she was a freak.

[–] fordraff 14 years ago

I just finished seeing this version for the 2nd time. It's awful, but that's not my point here. In addition to what's been offered here to support Mrs. Danvers being a lesbian, in the bedroom, after Mrs. Danvers has started the fire, she spreads out Rebecca's nightgown and then lies down next to it and extends her hands as if embracing Rebecca. How much plainer can her lesbianism be made?

Yes, Rebecca and her cousin Favell were lovers. He states that directly in the film, once Mrs. Danvers is called into the room in a conference among the principals with Ben near the end. He goes on to state how often her stayed with her in her flat in London. In fact, he says to Mrs. Danvers, "Rebecca and I lived together off and on for years, hadn't we? She was in love with me, wasn't she?" Rebecca later brought Favell down to Manderley, which Maxim wouldn't tolerate.

In reading both the User Reviews and the message boards for this film, I have never seen so many errors regarding names and plot points as here. Look, class, you simply have to go back and re-read the novel.

[–] whitespirit26 13 years ago

Believe it or not, more than one story has depicted straight women lying down and hugging each other, usually to comfort each other. Besides, if Danvers was imagining hugging Rebecca, the only way she could have done that was by laying down the nightgown.

[–] Jane_Claire 15 years ago

That's not the "vibe" I got from her character in the book but her demeanor/actions/behavior are commonly interpreted now as lesbian. I thought she was just obsessed; as obsessed and fascinated with Rebecca as everyone else around her except her husband was.

[–] cookiela2001 15 years ago

I don't know that she was "gay" in the modern sense of the term...but she certainly displayed a strong homoerotic attraction to Rebecca.

Being gay or lesbian isn't purely about who you have sex with. A straight person can have a same sex experience and still be straight, just as a homosexual can marry and even have children, and still be esentially homosexual.

I think it basically boils down to level of enthusiasm...and Mrs. Danvers seemed pretty ENTHUSIASTIC about her late mistress.

[–] joyfarrah 13 years ago

I think it is clear but in a "coded" way, that Mrs D and Rebecca both have homosexual tendencies, as was the style back in hte 30s in books.. and films. When Jack says that Reb was in love with him, Mrs D says she wasn't, that she despised all men.. and that if she let them make love to her it was "only for amusement".. Mrs D wants to believe that Rebecca didn't care for the men she slept with, because she herself has a strong emotional homoerotic attachment to her...
And other indications of Reb's sexuality are her "looking like a boy" when she cuts her hair and wears trousers, her not being able to have a child, or Maxim's disgusted exclamation that she "wasn't even normal"...

[–] whitespirit26 13 years ago

Please, do NOT write off Maxim's label of her as abnormal meaning homosexuality; please! He said she was incapable of affection or decency and was clearly describing her incapacity to love; that, and not a gay thing, was why he was tempted to kill her right on the cliff then. He wasn't a homophobic monster.

[–] whitespirit26 13 years ago

I think you're blurring boundaries there, cookie, and it's not wise.

I think Jane is right, she was obsessed with Rebecca. She began with adoring Rebecca, in the way some mothers put their children on almost godlike pedestals, then it later became a worshipful relationship, as Rebecca grew and surpassed her in personality, power, will and everything, becoming someone she orbited around.

[–] cmichal427 11 years ago

Maybe a clue can be found in the fact that Mrs. Danvers was alone--there didnt seem to be a Mr. Danvers in the picture or else he had died long ago--remember Mrs. Danvers came to Manderley when Max married R and Mrs D had been Rs nanny LONG before that. My gues is that maybe Mrs D's husband and maybe even a child were killed together in a tragic accident and Mrs d became obseeseed with R as a substitute daughter. Favell was so sneaky and commercial he might even have tried to blackmail Rebecca or Max about disclosing a lesbian relationship. No. Mrs d may not have been gay but obsessively attached, like the Eliz Taylor character in Secret Certemony

[–] magpieskye 10 years ago

I don't think there ever was a Mr. Danvers. As a housekeeper, she uses the courtesy title Mrs., per the custom in England during that oeriod.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] jblum315-733-998513 10 years ago

The title "Mrs." does not mean that Mrs. Danvers was ever married. It was the custom then to address housekeepers as Mrs., whether they were married or single.

[–] Lwchapelhill 8 years ago

I've always thought that Mrs. Danvers had a sort of one-step-removed life through Rebecca. I think that's something that might have happened with close servants--some of them may have tended to live vicariously through their employers.

FWIW, being older now, and seeing both versions of Rebecca (Hitchcock's and the 1997 version) I can see where Mrs. D. may have had an unrequited love/passion for Rebecca.