Daphne (2007)

It is a performances centric movie

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Daphne Du Maurier has always been on the periphery of my consciousness, as the author of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, both of which I've not read but have seen the film adaptations. So the revelation that she was bisexual comes as a mildly interesting fact. She is having a hard time defining herself sexually. Gertrude Lawrence says Daphne is really a boy--her play about a young man in love with an older woman is really about her as a man-- and Daphne spends most of the film trying to establish whether or not this is true.I said Somerville is terrific, and she proves how inward she is with the character. The trip to Florence with Ellen Doubleday that is so fraught with tension between the two women produces some funny lines: "I'm like the river Arno with its falls all pent up, that can't get out to sea... I want to flee to a monastery or a madhouse".

One oughtn't to assume anything yet when something hits home and one is bowled over one shan't but one shall, against all conventions and pre- condition ideologies by which one has lived, for all societal mores saving face to all those who still hold steadfast to dogmas and doctrines which have plagued man, suppressed feelings, subjugated any new possibilities, for any advances that have been balked by the egregious monster that is greed or by any other vice that has enthralled a good descent man to a life beneath his potentials and subjected him to a life as a thrall to an unjust paradigm veiled by a duplicitous propaganda machine that perpetuates blind obeisance bolstered by fear and the threat of sustenance, what is left? Most succumb, others fight, and some of the more sensitive nature and artistic persuasion seek to escape through the disembodied spirit to give free reign to our imagination who wonders deeply what if and why not? If ever there was a creative whose intrinsic essence longed to be borne on the wings of freedom and be transported to the land of transcendence to gambol and life amongst dreams above all that is petty simple bigotry without cause , if ever there was an angel amongst mortals, if ever there was an creative whose spirit touched ever so eloquently on that enigmatic universal thing called Love - Daphne du Maurier is the pure embodiment of this disembodied spirit... They say creatives do not understand the world in which they are misunderstood, they are desired but not needed, they are wont to become cross and bear the wrath in effigy of all that is rot and once there in this welter of obloquy they can become subversive and must be marginalized and if not effaced for the good of mankind, for they become "evil" and outside the hands of providence they do not see the moral walls erected by god and citizen alike wherein one summons the amoral demon inly which will inevitably give rise to a bacchanal of the supreme debauched sinner, this is how society bears the will of the creative - but it is not that they cannot see the walls, they simply break them down with their art which simply begs the question, what if.... why not? The beloved gracious Daphne, whose disembodied spirit survives her on a chill night against the gibbous moon when a soft zephyr wraps lightly on the casement window, listen to the sibilant whispers of time immemorial as her soft tender kiss graces your soft cheek and asks 'what if?'

It was very interesting to hear the author behind Rebecca explaining her her personal love life. Although the real Daphne wouldn't have told a sinner about her sexual experiences with other women and it was very sad that back then, no one even considered it to be a good thing. We all love who we love. It was such a bummer that she didn't get Ellen Doubleday as her lover. They would've absolutely just be good lovers. However I say the marriages for them both weren't stable at all. They like all women experiencing same sex fantasies back in the heyday kept their mouths shut. I say the real Daphne had lots going on with her life to maintain a good family life for her children and her husband. I suppose she didn't want her author career to go downhill because of this secret she had been keeping until her death.This film really opened up a lot of doors into the life of Daphne du Maurie. I applaud the marvelous Geraldine Somerville for playing as the legendary author!

I just watched this movie tonight on Logo and thought it was a wonderful story. I am only in my late 20's and not usually interested in older movies (althought this was recently made), however I found it very interesting and very well portrayed. It was a very tasteful love story. I had never heard of Daphne Du Maurier before this, but I enjoyed it so much that I am going to read her other stories. Another good movie to watch would be Portrait of A Marriage which was shown as a mini-series. This movie was similar to Daphne. I would recommend either of those movies.