Jennie reveals her latest movie find: The Scapegoat

I wasn’t the one to ‘discover’ this film, of course,
but I was the only person in my household to discover it. And it was well worth discovering...

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I have not read The Scapegoat by Daphne de Maurier. Have you?

Here’s a truth from me: I hadn’t heard of Daphne de Maurier’s The Scapegoat (it’s apparently a rare de Maurier novel) and when I chanced upon the film (a movie-length drama for ITV UK), I kept looking at it and reading the blurb and putting off watching it because of the title which did not appeal to me, regardless of the blurb. Then I watched it.

Super, super, super film.

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About The Scapegoat

Wikipedia: "There are significant differences between this adaptation and the original novel. Whereas the action of the novel takes place in France, this screen version is set in the UK in 1952 as Britain prepares for the Coronation." 

Imdb: "Set in 1952, as England prepares for the coronation, The Scapegoat tells the story of two very different men who have one thing in common - a face."

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I’m usually 50/50 on taking books to the screen. I may love the book more than the movie or I may love the movie more than I enjoyed reading the book.  Being a lover of both books and movies, I tend to make up my mind once I’ve read the book and watched the movie, and then decide to either love both or stick with either/or as my preference. The two are very separate entities– so you must make up your own mind which you prefer. 

Cover of a first edition (USA)

The Scapegoat  My take (I'm talking the movie not the book) is that this is, of course, suspense more than romance and is suitably de Maurier chilling in parts, but romance is there in the storyline and in every main character’s head – apart from the few. 

I was praying that it would end a certain way.

About a third of the way through, my fingernails were scraping on my desk (I watched the film on my laptop) in the hope that what might happen didn’t happen, but I had no idea that what I wanted to happen would happen… 

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No spoilers from me.  But I will commend actor Matthew Rhys for his dual portrayal of John Standing and Johnny Spence. Mr. Rhys – you had me in the second dual scene at the café, and you had me therein. I’m yours forevermore...

If you watch this, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I would watch this again (and probably a third time and maybe eventually a fourth time).

Jennie x

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The Scapegoat
Based on The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
Written by Charles Sturridge
Directed by Charles Sturridge
Starring Matthew Rhys, Eileen Atkins

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