KRISTIN'S DARKEST HOUR And how she pulled through

THE PATIENT ENGLISHWOMAN IS ENJOYING A DRAMATIC COMEBACK

Elegant, articulate and radiant, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas tends to have a mesmerising effect on audiences. Her critically acclaimed performances in the Oscar-nominated The Darkest Hour and The Party a few years ago were potent reminders that she can deliver captivating performances.

Though she periodically threatens to quit acting, she nevertheless manages to pop up every other year or so in one remarkable film after another. And as part of the wave of actors flocking to TV as part of the streaming boom, Kristin made a surprise appearance in season two of irreverent British comedy Fleabag.

Now she’s about to be seen in Rebecca, Netflix’s highly anticipated remake of the Daphne du Maurier Gothic novel set in the 1930s. Kristin plays the part of the forbidding Mrs Danvers, the wicked head housekeeper who runs the castle belonging to the brooding Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), the wealthy widower who marries a shy, naive young woman (Lily James).

Alfred Hitchcock famously directed the 1940 version, which earned the Oscar for Best Picture and starred Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as Mr and Mrs de Winter while Judith Anderson played the pivotal role of Mrs Danvers.

For Kristin, Rebecca marks yet another chapter in a career resurgence that has outstripped her expectations after she entered into self-imposed retirement in 2014. She didn’t work again until Sally Potter asked her to work in 2018’s The Party, which she followed with a stirring turn in The Darkest Hour as Winston Churchill’s wife.

But what prompted Kristin to walk away from movies, and what brought her back?

“Over the course of things, I think I made some very good films, but the work just didn’t satisfy me anymore,” recalls Kristin, who will turn 60 in May.