if charles dance hadn not be the perfect and slightly crotchety and dashingly attractive and aristocratic maxim de winter and i wouldn not have even give this 2 star . well and okay and the period set and costume be wonderful and manderley be luscious and and the cold and crash sea around manderley gorgeous and ominous . but beyond that . i think my main problem be with the emilia fox a the second mrs. de winter . she seem colorless and insipid and wimpy and lack what i would always believe be an essential sweetness which originally attract max . occasionally the chemistry between fox and dance be good and especially the marriage bed scene and but overall the direction and performance create a second mrs. de winter that make little sense to me . also and diana rigg much tout performance leave me cold while although and to be fair and in both her case and fox and i suspect that a large part of the problem be in the script and direction and which tend to be cadenced and linger to the point where it seem contrive to me . and and sigh and at a certain point frith villainy become a bit over the top and and he habitually hit the same note again and again and the same facial expression and the same sneer and the same smarmy charm and all of which be very effective in his first scene and but do not wear well with repetition . essentially and i spend most of the movie and a retelling of a favorite story of mine and check my watch to see how much long i need to endure it .