E. Dennis Brod

This is a very poor remake of a great 1940 movie and a poor adaptation of the novel. A particular annoyance is the music playing throughout. It is not suitable for this drama. It is too loud and is grating on the nerves. Using music in this manner is an apparent attempt to create dramatic moods that the director was incapable of doing. The director in this version does not capture the essence of the novel. The principal character played by Lily James was supposed to be plain and frumpy. Instead, she is gorgeous and glamorous right from the beginning. Her wardrobe is out of Vogue magazine. This spoils a significant character development later in the film as she is transformed into a mature, confident and assertive woman. Overall casting in the film is a horror considerably worse than Mrs. Danvers herself. The movie is a bomb.

People seem to justify anything in film if it is considered artistic. Yes, good performances and other cinematic qualities, but this film is muddled, chaotic and unfulfilling from a viewers’s perspective. If the director was trying to replicate a bad LSD trip for his audience, he succeeded. Personally, my preference in movies is entertainment.