Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Morning.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Morning Phillip, ghastly weather again.

It certainly is.

Thanks.

DOOR OPENS

She's dead.

This programme contains some strong language.

'My love,

'what have you done to me?

'What have you done to the girl who never wanted to grow up, the shy girl with the boy's heart?

'Daphne du Maurier,

'who wrote her books and had young men

'and later a husband and children, and life was lovely,

'sometimes rather sad.'

Oh, Kits slow down now.

Mummy, Mummy the war's over.

I know it is, darling, now go back to Tod.

Tommy didn't come home until the following year, the 19th of July.

'It was our wedding anniversary, which seemed to me the best of omens.

'I stood there waiting for the door of the plane to open and I was gripped by a great wave of emotion.

'I suddenly knew

'it was all going to be all right.

'Everything was going to be all right.'

Daphne du Maurier, Britain's leading romantic novelist, is thrilled to have romance back in her life,

now that her husband is home from the war.

She's married to Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning,

and they have three charming children.

Tessa, away at boarding school, Flavia and Kits.

Not that her novels and film scripts leave her much time for family life.

Rebecca, Miss du Maurier's best-selling novel, still flies out of bookshops every week.

Ideas, when they come, must be jotted down at once or they'll slip away again.

The sinister fascination of the character Rebecca has brought Miss du Maurier a legion of fans.

Here's one you might recognise.

Yes, you guessed it, the Duke of Edinburgh, dropping in for lunch.

But Daphne's biggest fan, her husband of course.

No, there's nothing sinister about the life of this happy wife.

And by the way, she's a keen archer too.

THEY PLAY A NOISY GAME

Air raid, air raid.

Evacuate the stations! Dropping bombs.

Air raid, air raid!

Darling...

..I hope it's not all a queer anticlimax for you.

Of course not.

HE MAKES AEROPLANE NOISES

CLATTER For Christ's sake, don't touch my things!

Get back to bed!

What the hell do you think you're doing, boy? Get back to bed!

Christ.

I'm not cut out for this.

We'll soon be jamming along again.

Yes. These last years, not being properly together,

it'll take some time to get back to our old roots.

'The great homecoming fell flat as a pancake.

'I waited...

'..and waited

'for some kind of sign.

'Nothing.

'It was a hell of a blow.

GENTLE KNOCK AT DOOR

'The outlook was dreary.

'It was dreadful to think that side of the marriage was finished for ever.

'It's frightfully bad for my morale.'

Feeling such a dull...

..grey-haired...

nearly-40 wife.

That's absurd.

Did I say that out loud? If it wasn't for you, I'd be a nervous wreck, probably neurotic.

The last five years,

hell of it,

it was thoughts of you

buoyed a man up.

Oh...

..darling!

Let's go upstairs.

Now? Why not?

But Tod... Damn Tod.

It was odd for a man, you know, coming home and being put in that damn cold second bedroom.

Oh, I...I thought your mind would be so full of war.

Well, not just war.

I haven't been able to sleep.

Darling, neither have I.

I dream so often of Daddy.

You miss him?

I don't know, I... Kiss me.

I am sorry, darling.

I was so determined to make an effort and not seem different at all and...

and give you a great welcome.

PHONE RINGS

Oh... Leave it, blasted thing.

'Hello.'

No, I must...

'Can I ask who's calling?'

Who is it, Tod?

It's Rebecca.

Oh, don't be ridiculous. Long-distance call. Hello?

Hello! Rebecca here!

Nelson!

It's my American publisher.

Tell me, Miss du Maurier, you know that silly woman, that awful mouse, eh, the second Mrs Winter.

Why did you never give her a name?

Oh, Nelson stop that at once.

If only you knew how sick I was of Rebecca,

always Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca, I'll never be rid of Rebecca.

Well, she's not finished with you yet.

How does a trip to the States grab ya?

What can you mean? Well, there's a dame here

wants to sue you, she says you stole the idea of Rebecca from her book.

What nonsense.

I'm telling you, Daphne, they want you in court. You're going to have to pack your bags.

But Tommy's back.

I can't, Nelson...

really.

HE IS SINGING TO HIMSELF

I expect the whole boat is teaming with Witherspoons.

KNOCK AT DOOR

(Ssh! We're not receiving.)

Hello, anybody there?

Hello! Say, is the author of Rebecca here? Shh!

I heard that. I don't bite, you know, at least not until cornered.

Besides the Yankee hordes are half civilised these days.

You must be Daphne. I'm Nelson's wife, Ellen, Ellen Doubleday.

How do you do? Nelson arranged for us to be on the same ship, wasn't it swell of him?

One of our most important writers. I had to welcome you aboard.

Andrew, don't just stand there, they'll go right there.

Nelson tells me you've never been to the States before.

We must put you up in a style to which you're accustomed, to make you feel right at home.

This will go there, won't it?

Do you have rats in your house?

Rats?! We're accustomed to the style of rats.

In Cornwall?

Well, it's not Manderley.

Ah, Rebecca kept such a beautiful house, didn't she?

Children, go open your presents. Yeah!

Cigarette?

We're gonna be great friends, I can tell.

'But I thought more than that.

'You were quite glorious

'and I avoided you like the plague for the rest of the trip.'

Daphne du Maurier, celebrated author of Rebecca, arrived in New York today,

to defend herself against charges of plagiarism.

But the welcome isn't all unfriendly.

Miss du Maurier will be tasting Stateside luxury while she's here,

staying on Long Island as guest of the renowned society hostess Ellen Doubleday.

Now what, Mummy?

I don't know, darling.

Where's Mrs Simpson?

SHE LAUGHS

Do you mean Mrs Doubleday?

I'm hungry. Me too.

Perhaps there'll be a biscuit.

Ah, you've got your sea legs. I'm sure, you're still moving now...

'Then you came back

'bringing ease and comfort in your wake.'

Good morning, Miss du Maurier. Good morning.

Sure is a fine day.

Oh, orange juice!

Oh! I'd forgotten.

Yes, ma'am.

Mmm!

You mustn't give one thought to that lousy court case. It's a stinker, I know.

But no-one will believe you stole from that second-rate book, a swell writer like you.

And you must stay here for as long as you like.

Nelson and I are your biggest fans.

Oh, no, not fans.

I often get letters, you know, full of gush from fans.

Sometimes I think how funny it would be

if one went and turned up at someone's house, who was a fan, you know,

and said, "Look, here I am!

"You wrote me such a lovely letter, I thought perhaps you'd like it if I came to stay."

Or imagine if you had stayed the night somewhere, with people that you hardly know at all, and then...

just as you were going, just as the suitcase was in the car, you'd say,

"Well, actually I'd rather like to stay on - is that all right?"

And get out again.

Um, that rather happened to me once.

Yes, the mademoiselle at my French finishing school,

quite alarming really.

She came to stay with us in London, and then just as she was leaving,

it turned out she wanted my father to put her on the stage. Oh, quite alarming. Really!

Mmm...

Well, I loved her awfully in fact.

Yes, I was cross at first because I wasn't her favourite.

But then she lured me in, coiled me in her net.

She had a kind of...

fatal attraction.

It gave one the most extraordinary thrill.

Say, that butter is melting.

Better suck your fingers.

How did you get the idea for Rebecca?

Everything I write comes from inside me.

But you're not Rebecca, say.

Oh, but I always have a peg, you see. A peg?

Peg is a real person who...

Well...

sometimes the only way to deal with a peg is to make them into character in a book.

Or sometimes...

it works the other way.

A character can get pegged onto a real person.

After the book's written?

Yes.

It's all very muddling.

Oh, do peg me, won't you... either way?

Got to be jolly careful with pegs, you know. Really?

They can be quite bottomless.

Does it make you mad what they say about Rebecca? Mad?

I mean the critics, calling you the pot boiler.

I don't know when I've read a book as strange.

It's a grim story, isn't it?

Unpleasant, even.

It's fearless, my dear.

THEY WHOOP

This is unfair!

Killers! Oh, yes!

Oh, no, no.

OK...

I'm getting my... I'm getting my guns. OK, come on.

You know, I wanted to write about that dreadful thing of power in the marriage,

the battle it can be, not about love.

Oh!

Yeah!

It's about jealousy.

The whole bloody business between men and women.

I'm sorry!

Shall we go in?

Now I'm a widow, I think I deserve an enormous dry Martini.

So the American consul in London says to her, "How many novels have you read in your lifetime?"

You think I'm kidding? This man doesn't know who he's talking to.

Miss Daphne du Maurier, who wrote Rebecca, this woman lives for the novel.

How man has she read? 50? 100? 2,000?

The man's an imbecile, a cretin,

and then he says to her, "State on which dates you read them."

LAUGHTER

"See you in court,"

that's what I said, "See you in court." And you know what we're gonna do?

We're gonna take that little miss litigious Edwina Elle Macdonald and we're gonna bury her.

But you know what the trouble is, she ain't gonna mind because she's dead already!

LAUGHTER

You think I'm kidding? No, she died after she brought the suit.

Would Miss Daphne du Maurier please take the stand?

Place your right hand on the Bible.

JUDGE RAPS HIS GAVEL FOR SILENCE

Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

Miss du Maurier, would you explain to the court how you came to write the story?

What, Miss du Maurier, is the moral message of the novel?

Miss du Maurier, I believe you regularly read...

Tell us how all this, er, make-believe...

Are you familiar with the concept of fair usage of common...?

Miss du Maurier, what is the inspiration you draw on...?

Miss du Maurier...

Was it lousy?

Ghastly.

Hell.

Come and have a drink.

It's so utterly degrading.

It's obscene.

I have to answer questions.

They've no right. But you've nothing to hide.

Don't they understand that these things are private?

They're personal. Oh, darling.

I feel...

so humiliated.

'You looked lovelier every day. It just defeated me.'

This is Grand Illusion by Edgar Wallace. Have you read this book?

Yes, I have. And this edition, this is the first British edition.

Yes...

it was probably that addition.

Then you will have seen the advertisement here in the back for Blind Windows,

the book you stole the story of Rebecca from.

No, I don't remember seeing that advertisement.

(Where is he?)

(He'll hang in the morning.)

Yippee!

KITS MAKES SHOOTING NOISES Agh!

# Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah... #

Oh, Mummy, Mummy!

Darlings, what are you doing out of bed?

We watched television. We saw a rodeo.

We've been bucking and rearing all over the place. Really?

Where's Ellen? We haven't seen her.

But the doctor came in.

For Nelson. He had an injection in his bottom, we spied through the crack of the door.

Flav, you mustn't spy on people,

and you mustn't make up silly stories, unless you're being paid to do so.

'No, I'm...!'

It's been going on all day.

Shh!

'No, no, I won't stop, no, no!

'This is very important, Ellen...'

# Tonight...

# I see a message in your eyes

# And there I found the world of my dreams

# A vision... #

'You were so elegant and poised.

'So sophisticated.

'So perfect, and yet...'

Bedtime, darling.

Mummy says it's bedtime, does she?

You've had enough.

No, what's Mummy know about it now?

What does Mummy know about pain in the ass?

# ..a million charms

# The rhythm of a lovely melody

# I'm holding heaven in my arms

# Tonight... # FOOTSTEPS

# And now I fell the touch of your hand

# that tells me tonight

# you're mi-i-ine. #

Maxim de Winter's a dreadful creature, isn't he?

He murders Rebecca, treats his second wife no better than a...

..better than a dog.

Oh, yes, there was more hatred than love.

And yet she begs to be with him. Why?

Ellen...

Why does she beg him? Why does...?

Is Rebecca based on your marriage?

Not exactly.

What then?

I don't know.

A writer doesn't always know.

'I put it to you that you're a liar, Miss du Maurier.'

You read Blind Windows

and you thought, "Hey now, there's a story I can make something of, there's a..."

How very perceptive it was of him.

My life had been one long lie for as far back as I could remember.

'No, break away, you taught me everything.'

Oh, Ellen.

Nelson has neuritis. Oh.

He's not well. No.

Don't tell anyone.

Miss du Maurier, I put it to you that there are 46 parallelisms

between Rebecca and Blind Windows, 46!

And I put it to you that that book is about murder pure and simple,

and Rebecca isn't about murder at all.

It's about the things we cover up, the lengths we go to,

it's about the fact that there is nothing worse, nothing so degrading and shaming

as a marriage that has failed.

'I wasn't just fighting a foolish case of plagiarism any more.

'I was fighting all the rottenness that's in every one of us.'

Daphne du Maurier left court a winner today.

All present declared she acquitted herself magnificently in the witness box.

In his summing up, Judge Swan said, "I am convinced there was no copying."

He dismissed the complaint with costs awarded to the defendant.

BAND PLAYS "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" Mr Coward! Mr Noel Coward!

Welcome to Barberry's.

Heavenly Barberry's.

Come on in.

Mummy, you look like a queen!

Children!

You look so beautiful.

Why can't I just wear velvet trousers and a boyish belt?

# I wonder who's kissing her now

# Who's kissing her now?

# I wonder... #

To tell you the truth I'm not that keen on Hollywood.

I'd rather have a nice cup of cocoa.

I'd rather have cocoa than almost anything. Not keen on parties?

The effort of talking, I don't know how people stand it.

My dear girl!

I knew your father, you know, the legendary man of the theatre.

Look - Gertie! Daphne, do you know Gertie?

She's one of us.

Daphne du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence.

Ah, the Rebecca of Barberry.

'I was a boy of 18 all over again, nervous hands and a beating heart, incurably romantic,

'and wanting to throw a cloak before his lady's feet.

'I wanted to ride out and fight dragons for you.'

Daphne!

May I call you Daphne?

Well, look at you all grown up!

Your father used to talk about you so much you know, how he loved his little Daph.

Oh, us girls had our work cut out for us, competing with you, a 12-year-old child.

He thought you were so like him, he really did.

And now that I look at you I think well, yes, you are.

Of course he was in love with himself, what man isn't?

No doubt he wanted a son, men do, don't they? Oh, they're fools.

Would you excuse me for a moment please?

Darling, she's much shorter than I thought.

Yeah, but she's very talented, very talented. Where have you been?

I think I... Oh, thank you. Cheers.

GENERAL CHAT

LOUD LAUGHTER

Thank you for a wonderful evening.

Oh, thank you so much for coming. Goodnight, Max, goodnight, Jo.

I love the stillness of a room after a party's over.

Chairs are moved, cushions disarranged, everything is there to show that people enjoyed themselves.

And one's so happy it's over.

Tell me what's bothering you.

Something is.

I have an animal instinct for trouble, you know.

It seems to me that I've been the source of some kind of...

..consternation.

I have ever since I walked into your cabin that day.

Consternation?

What a marvellous word for it.

I want to give you this.

My father gave it me.

This is really...

..precious.

Yes.

I'll wear it always.

You know I've...

I've enjoyed our conversations, they've been important to me.

And I've always believed that...

everyone has a right to love, just as their passion dictates, without any kind of censure.

But...

I can't love you in that way.

I know that...

you don't hope for anything more than friendship because you'll understand that I can't give it.

'Love is love.

'How can there be different ways, and by God and by Christ,

'if anyone should call it that unattractive name that begins with L, I'll tear their guts out.'

'You direct my life more completely than an atom bomb ever could.

'The old familiar roots were queer and wrong.'

CHILDREN SING ALONG TO RECORD "There Is Nothing Like A Dame"

# You know darn well!

# We've got nothing to put on a clean white

# Suit for

# What we need is what there ain't no substi...tute for

# There is nothing like a dame

# Nothing in the world

# There is nothing you can name

# That is anything like a dame

# We feel restless, we feel blue

# We feel lonely and in grief

# We've got every kind of feeling but the feeling of relief

# We feel hungry as the wolf in Red, Red Riding Hood

# What don't we feel? #

We don't feel good.

# Lots of things in life are beautiful but... #

'I even began to think of having another baby,

'before it was too late.'

# ..in any way, shape or form like any...other

# There is nothing like a dame

# Nothing in the world

# There is nothing you can name

# That is anything like a dame. #

Ducky, I want to discuss something very serious. Yes, me too. I can't tell you how I feel.

God's sake, darling, let me spill the bloody beans. I've been bottling them up so long. Oh.

I've got the most hellish overdraft.

I simply can't pay my bills.

Bills?

You're appalled.

No, no, I'm not appalled.

It's all right, I'll pay the bills, I'll pay some money into your account. The blasted thing is...

Can we talk about it in the morning?

We'll deal with the whole thing in the morning.

I'm frightfully tired.

Night, night, ducky.

Night, night.

'It's people like me who've bitched up the old relationship between men and women.

'I mean really women shouldn't have careers, they should be wives and mothers.'

'In a fever of composition I started to write a play.

'It was about you, darling.

'But you mustn't worry, no-one will ever know.

'I disguised you as a very proper mother.'

Mother's thoroughly domestic and old fashioned.

I always tell her she ought to have lived a hundred years ago.

You fill me with more and more dread, I won't know what to say to her at all.

I've got a wonderful surprise for you.

Well, then tell me at once.

I've got the most frightful jitters about this whole thing.

Wait and see.

For Christ's sakes, stop touching my things!

How do you do? I'm mother.

We're immensely lucky to get... But you said Peggy Ashcroft. Peggy changed her mind.

But Gertrude Lawrence? I'm taking three sleeping tablets a night as it is. I mean...

Gertrude Lawrence?

She's a Broadway star.

She's too old. Surely not.

Clinging to youthfulness. What on earth do you mean?

She couldn't be more wrong. She's...she's silly, she's...

She's a good actress. She's a dyed-haired tart.

Very kind of you to give me a lift.

We'll stop off at the Ritz. I rather hate the Ritz. Nonsense, no-one hates the Ritz.

So after dinner Gertie says to me, "I'm worried about George.

"He might kick the bucket before he casts me in the next play, he's almost 69!"

I said, "Go upstairs with him and he'll live till he's 99!"

Dick, stop!

I love that little joke. Oh, you're a darling husband.

Thank you.

Darling. Thank you.

So she's seen, you know. Oh.

Oh, now listen to this, it's absolutely marvellous. Oh.

Women are like geography.

From 16 to 22, they're like Africa, part virgin, part explored.

From 22 to 35, they're like Asia, hot and mysterious.

From 35 to 45, they're like the USA, all high tuned and technical.

From 45 to 55, they're like Europe, quite devastated but interesting in places.

And from 60 upwards, oh, like Australia, everyone knows about it but no-one wants to go there!

Isn't it marvellous?

Thank you, darling.

Gertie's been telling me about your play. Oh.

I understand Gertie's playing a mother figure, and the theme is forbidden passion.

Well, yes, it's, um, it's about a young man who has a passion, for his mother-in-law.

Oh, I see.

How is Ellen Doubleday? Do you know?

Oh, Evan, don't be such a child, you and I can't love each other that way.

There's only one way to love and that's to give everything - mind body and heart.

Well, you can have all three of mine, for what it's worth. We're speaking a different language. Are we?

How?

I was brought up to respect morals and standards and I respect them still.

Whatever I feel in my heart,

they must come first.

Why did you do that?

Now you've spoilt everything.

'She kissed the boy all wrong,

'the two of them in a sort of clinch, as if they'd have each other's pants off.'

You're being very ridiculous, you know.

You're behaving like a sulky schoolboy who needs his bottom spanked.

The kiss was wrong.

It's not all about bed, you know.

Isn't it?

No, it's not.

Do you know what you need?

How shall I put this? You need a good...

..time,

you need to have some fun.

# That certain when I came in

# There was magic abroad in the air

# There were angels dining at the Ritz

# And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

# I may be right, I may be wrong

# But I'm perfectly willing to swear

# That when you turned and smiled at me

# A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

# The moon that lingered over London Town

# Poor puzzled moon, he wore a frown

# How could he know we two were so in love...? #

HORN BLARES

Oh, fuck off! We're in a hit!

For Christ's sake, stop touching my things!

How do you do? I'm Mother.

How do you do?

Do I kiss you? I don't know.

It's absurd, I don't know how to behave, I've never had a son-in-law before.

Perhaps I'm the first of many.

Where's Jerry?

REPLY IS DROWNED BY MUSIC

Oh. I've already been out to the village to get you some whisky. She said you drank whisky.

# And like an echo far away

# A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

# I know cos I was there

# That night in Berkeley Square. #

May I ask you something?

What does your husband think of the play?

Oh, Tommy's not sniffy about made-up things.

Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning.

My first sight of Tommy was when he sailed into Fowey harbour one day.

He was so fine and confident...

..at the helm of his boat.

It was love at first sight.

The real thing.

It's such a queer stroke of fate, picked by someone...

with ideals and principles...

..to show me the difference between right and wrong.

I always said it would take five brandy and sodas,

a sloe gin, and a handkerchief of ether to get me to the altar rail.

But in the end...

..I proposed to him.

My mother was a very basic type of woman, you know.

I expect I inherited the thing of wanting to be married from her.

Poor Tommy.

If you think, because of the play, that I've had an affair with a younger man, you're wrong.

Oh, pipe down, dear.

I know you're not Mother.

I know you're the boy.

MUSIC: "La Mer"

In you go.

Yes,

yes, yes, no,

yes, ugh no, yes, yes, yes.

GERTRUDE LAUGHS

Do you always behave like this?

Off, I don't want to see it ever again.

It's a bit tight.

No, I've changed my mind, not that one, the pink.

Oh, no, not the pink!

Yes, after the years of blackout, the lights are on again in London.

And here's Miss Daphne du Maurier, arriving for the premiere of her new play, September Time.

And look, there's Noel Coward.

Mr Coward remembers Miss du Maurier's famous father,

the great actor-manager Gerald du Maurier.

"He's with us in spirit tonight," he said.

MUSIC DROWNS CONVERSATION

Where is she?

You and Gertie have become such friends. Yes.

Of course, when I first discovered Gertie, she was acting in one of your father's productions. Yes.

One of his better choices of mistress.

Mistress? Didn't you know?

Oh, there you are. I've got something for you.

I was at the stage door, the fans, you know, one must.

What is it?

What have you got for me?

A kiss.

Let's go to your room.

There's a certain type of woman who should be enjoyed on a divan rather than a double bed.

That's what Daddy said.

And he was right.

What did you say you had for me?

Nelson critical, talks of you.

Pray for us. Ellen.

Shh!

Not long now.

Australia, everyone's heard about it, but no-one wants to go there.

LAUGHTER

It's the geography, do you see?

LAUGH TURNS INTO A COUGH

At least we're still high tone and technical, you and me.

The oxygen of laughter, thank you for bringing it. Oh, well,

that joke was courtesy of La Lawrence.

Mmm.

She's a silly bitch, really.

Still, I think I think I broke down a few of her defences, not that she has many.

Her acting was a revelation, though.

You sound quite smitten.

Gertie's like Europe, you know, quite devastated.

My father always used to say

there was a difference between the women men marry and the women they don't.

Well, now I see it truly and squarely, there's all the bloody difference.

You can't respect her.

You're the kind they marry.

Gertrude's the kind men don't.

Darling.

He's gone.

You know, you're the only person I feel I can say anything to.

I don't have to edit myself for you.

I don't feel sad about Nelson, see?

Just...

..destroyed.

You strained every muscle to make his last few months happy.

I know you did.

You've just got...

..battle fatigue.

I've been brewing...

a marvellous plan,

change of scene.

'It was then, when we were alone together,

'that I realised I'd suffered from a strange kind of loneliness.

'Not the loneliness which comes from having loved and lost,

'but rather the loneliness of a love one has never known.'

Shall we go up? Mmm.

Where have you been? I had a digestif on the terrace with that nice Canadian couple.

With those absolute Witherspoons?

Daphne, don't get sore, they amuse me in a funny sort of way.

It's their first trip to Europe, they spent the whole time talking

about the fact that they couldn't smoke on the ship. The cigarettes were in bond. Oh!

Shame on you, Daphne, you should be more...

You should try loving someone who's been in bond ever since you met them. Darling.

Maybe if I change my hormones...

I'd feel differently.

Oh, there's no need to blub.

I feel so guilty. Guilty?

Guilty?!

I'm not another of your acolytes to be indulged, you know. Christ!

Who do you think I am?

Do you think I have no pride?

Think about it. I'm...

I'm like the river Arno, with... with its falls all pent up,

and it can't get out to sea and, what am I meant to do, flee to a monastery?

Or a madhouse?

Perhaps I'll go down the Ponte Vecchio and pick up a prostitute.

Yes, I have thought about it.

Thought about it.

I'd have to shoot myself afterwards with the revulsion.

I came here to laugh with you, but it seems you're always angry.

Angry if I want to go shopping.

Angry if I want to have dinner in a decent restaurant, instead of a hunky bar.

Angry if I so much as talk to another person.

What's happened to you?

As a matter of fact I'm shaking with silent laughter most of the time.

Where are you going?

Home, where you should be.

'I resolved to be nice to my husband when I got home.

'I resolved to walk straight up to him at the airport and give him a big kiss.

'But Kits was wearing his first pair of long trousers.'

Are those for me?

HORN HOOTS

Daphne!

Now what's all this?

I'm doing Charlie's Aunt, I'm in Plymouth for a week and you haven't been to see me. Simply not possible.

Hello, dear. Hello. Darling.

You should have called. What, and have you fob me off? Not likely.

You're looking dreadfully pale.

We must put some colour in those cheeks.

Now, you're going to show me the house.

Then, afterwards, in case you hadn't guessed it, you're giving me cocktails and a slap-up lunch.

Are you brewing?

All doom in that department, I'm afraid.

I see.

I meant what I said about putting some colour in those cheeks, you know. Oh...

My tour finishes in a month.

Thanks, ducky.

I've been reading Rebecca again. Always Rebecca!

Anything else I do gets stinking reviews.

Well, of course, you'll never be forgiven for writing a bestseller.

You're a wonderful writer and you must never forget it.

And you're an awful Witherspoon.

Daphne, Daphne!

Are you very unhappy, darling?

I've been blundering and hopeless.

I suppose you wanted everything to have a fairytale ending.

I know what you're like, you're a romantic.

You cast everyone as heroes and princesses and then you're disappointed when they're real.

But I'm not, I am not a romantic.

There is no such thing as romantic love, that is a fact.

Romantic love's just a name of something illicit,

some bloody business with unhappiness for all.

Toodle-pip, darlings.

'Gertie was back and I was drawn to her

'like an alcoholic who must get the bottle or bust.

'For Gertie, there was no right and wrong where love was concerned,

'no standards to be maintained.

'We were like two silly schoolgirls.'

# While I was there

# I felt romance everywhere... #

Agh!

# ..I could hear laughing voices in the night

# Everyone was gay

# This was the start of their holiday

# It was fiesta down in Mexico

# And so I stopped a while to see the show

# I knew that pretty seamen please love me

# And I could say "pretty sea"

# A gallant caballero caught my eye

# I stood enchanted as he wondered by

# And never knowing that it came from me

# I gently sighed "pretty sea"

# He stopped and raised his eyes to mine

# My lips just pleaded to be kissed

# His eyes were bright as candle shine

# So how was I to resist? #

'I was like someone sleeping, who woke suddenly and found the world.'

'Uh, toast and marmalade.'

Marmalade. Thank you.

Of course, ever since the mademoiselle I told you about,

you know, the one at finishing school. Hmm.

I've known...

I've known I had Venetian tendencies.

Venetian?

The du Maurier code for the L people.

You mustn't despise the L people, you know.

All right, but I'm not one of them.

No, don't look at me like that.

Humph!

TELEPHONE RINGS

Hello.

What?

Oh, hello, Doris. ..It's my secretary.

Oh, goodness! Is she insisting?

Oh, all right, put her on.

Darling!

Oh, a party for Noel's new play. Oh, how dull!

SHE LAUGHS You know how I loathe a party,

especially one in honour of my best friend. 'You'll come?'

But listen, you'll never guess who's here with me. 'Who?' (..Ellen.)

Daphne.

Yes, I promise you.

I brought her on a rest cure. I found her at Menabilly with the most awful glooms.

Would you like to have a word? 'I'd love to.' She's right here.

Hello. 'Darling, it's Ellen. Have you been having a lovely holiday?'

Oh, yes, endless basking in the sun.

'Listen, I'm giving a party for Noel on the 20th.'

Oh, yes, that sounds lovely, but I'm not sure.

'Oh, but you must come, I won't take no for an answer, I've missed you so much.'

Really? 'It's been far too long since we've seen each other.'

Yes, it has been. 'So you'll come?

'I can't bear thinking you're in America and no plans to visit me.'

All right. 'That's settled, then, till the 20th.

Till then. Goodbye. 'Goodbye, darling.'

Well, fancy that.

I had a childish feeling of wanting to give Ellen things. All the time.

Like a child thrusting a bunch of daisies into its mother's hand.

Christ, the psycho boys would have fun with you.

You don't mind me talking about Ellen, do you?

I don't want to cry pity about my childhood.

Never, never did I have a glimmer of understanding from Mummy.

Not one touch of her hand.

I can't remember once being held by her.

Feeling her arms around me.

Your father thought you were swell. I can vouch for that.

Yes, yes, he thought I was. Mm-hm.

But he was with my mother and his women.

With you.

And then you played Ellen.

All right, Dr Daphstein, don't get your knickers in a twist.

Gertie, are you all right?

Such a headache.

Oh, Gertie.

It's awfully simple, really.

I just...

I just like being with you.

Do you know what? I like being with you too.

Don't let's fuck around.

Life's too short.

Darling. Oh, you make a spectacular widow, of course. Oh, nice ice.

Real, of course, worth a packet.

So have you been frolicking in the sun, you two? Brewing hard.

Really? Really? Yes. Gertie's knocked the block right out of me.

Exactly what the doctor ordered.

I feel the first faint stirrings of a new book, really I do.

Come, come.

Darling?

You seem different. Do I?

You ARE different.

Yes, perhaps I've changed.

Out of mourning.

Say, let's drink these upstairs, I'm longing for one of our talks.

'Daphne...'

..I thought about you a great deal after Florence.

It ended badly, I know, but you shake me up, Daphne, the way a friend should.

You're the only one who knows about Nelson, the truth, what I'd been through.

He died of drink you know, nothing fancy, just old-fashioned liquor.

It's that simple. I've been reading Rebecca again

and thinking about marriage and the demons there can be, but...

Once you know, once you really know,

when you've been in the flames like we have, then, then... it doesn't have to be that way.

Oh, there's so much I've got to tell you.

You must stay, stay for ages, you'll have your old room.

You're wearing the brooch. Of course, I always do.

What about Gertie? Dearest Gertie!

I want to hear all about Gertie. You know, I couldn't believe...

Tell her that you'd love to have her to stay, but you simply can't.

The house will be full and you have to put me up on a sofa as it is.

Oh, Daphne, shame on you and your dramas.

There's no need, really. Come.

She simply can't, do you see?

The house is fit to burst.

I'll probably be making do with the sofa.

But you've always said you'd rather liked me on a divan.

No room at the inn? Pardon me?

The house is full to the rafters, Ellen.

Don't lie, Daphne. You stink at it.

Daphne tells me that she's staying, but there's no room for La Lawrence.

Daphne's mistaken, there's a great deal of room. I'd like you to stay.

I do hope you will.

CAR ENGINE STARTS

Gertie?

Gertie!

Daphne?

Dickie? What are you doing here? Looking for my wife.

SCREECH OF TYRES

SCREECH OF TYRES Oh, my god!

Baby, are you OK? Oh...

Are you OK? Ah. Are you all right?

Take me home, Dickie. OK, you're not hurt? No.

Take me home. OK, yeah. I'll drive us home.

OK, I'll be right back.

She's all right, just a black-out. I didn't think she was drunk.

She's not drunk, you fool. Hasn't she told you?

She's not been well. What kind of unwell?

I'm going to take her home. But she's been so happy.

Where's Ellen?

Oh, Daphne, this is Jack Farrer. Jack, Daphne du Maurier.

So...the lady is for burning after all.

Daphne wrote Rebecca, of course,

and she's been in Florida brewing up another one of her stories, equally scary, I hope. Yes.

It's about a widow, rather sinister.

You never really know whether she's an angel or a devil.

Oh, dear. Yes.

She dies in the end.

Daphne!

I know.

I know you always said you couldn't love me that way,

but how can there be different ways where love is concerned?

You think there's a right and a wrong that must be recognised.

It's all right to keep me hanging on, it's all right to long for our talks.

But true happiness must be denied us.

Standards must be maintained.

Who are you talking about, Daphne? Are you talking about me?

You're talking about yourself.

You're the one who cares about standards.

I'm not denying myself.

I don't want it.

I don't want love with you.

You may go to Venice with whomever you please.

'I suppose it's funny to think that if there'd been no rift between us,

'I would never have left Barberrys that night.

'I would never have come home.

'I would never have written my new novel.

'It's the most emotionally-felt book I've ever written.'

Morning, Phillip. Good morning.

Ghastly weather again. It certainly is. Thanks.

"Daphne...

"Darling Gertie passed away last night. Dickie."

She's dead.

Who's dead?

Who's dead?

"You who know me better than anyone, Ellen, will understand my grief,

"because, in a strange way, it's all mixed up with you. Not your fault, darling.

"But when you walked into the cabin that day, on the boat,

"I was transported back 20 years in time, to when I was a boy of 18.

"Yes, a boy, not a girl.

"A boy I locked up in a box.

"I tried to push that boy back into his box.

"God knows I tried to write you out of my system.

"It's funny to think that, if there had never been the play,

"I would never have seen Gertie in fantasy being what I wanted you to be.

"I would never have gone to Florida with her.

"No regrets.

"She was so alive.

"So entrancing and yet real, do you see?

"It was never sordid.

"The odd thing is that once you have loved a person physically,

"it makes the strangest bond.

"There was so much warmth there, so much generosity of giving.

"Sometimes, when I'm alone...

"I shall open up that box again,

"and let the phantom, who is neither boy nor girl

"but disembodied spirit, dance in the evening,

"when there's no-one to see.

"Ellen, I offer you these words as I used to want to bring you flowers.

"I offer you this letter as testimony of my love...

"for Gertrude."

A new book is topping the bestseller lists.

A dazzling yet disturbing romance that has captured the nation's imagination. Who's it by?

You'll have heard of her - Daphne du Maurier.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007