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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/11/2011:

Daphne duMaurier was quite a woman as well as a wonderful writer. Her opening line of "Rebecca", "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" is one of the most famous lines in literature. Yet there is a lot about her that many of get to learn about in the BBC film, "Daphne". It is just too bad that such a fascinating woman did not have a first class film made about her.
The movie takes place in the years between "Rebecca" and "The Birds" and deals with her relationship with her husband, Frederick "Boy" Browning and Daphne's infatuations with the wife of American publishing tycoon, Nelson Doubleday (Ellen) and the actress Gertrude Lawrence.
I understand that this made for television movie was based on Margaret Foster's authorized biography of the author and this meant that duMaurier's bisexuality would not be glossed over. Actually, we were informed that this is what would be the basis of the movie. What we got instead was a disappointment. The screenplay is so messed up that it is amazing that the film was ever made. It is choppy and does not succeed in let us see what inner turmoil Daphne was going through. Beginning in 1952, we see Daphne standing in the rain outside of the estate she shared with her husband and children. She is waiting for the mail and she receives a letter which seems to pain her. Inside the house, her husband is seen looking at private photos of his wife in bed with another woman. His expression is one of near nonchalance.
This is the first of many such ridiculous scenes. As the film continues, Daphne writes a letter whose contents will be shared via voiceover for the length of the film. We learn that several years earlier, Daphne was sued for plagiarism and went to the trial in the United States and there meets Ellen Doubleday. Doubleday was a heterosexual woman but the movie shows her as smitten with Daphne but the affair never came to fruition.
After winning her court case, Daphne meets Noel Coward at a party hosted by the Doubledays and he introduces her to Gertrude Lawrence and this is perhaps the only scene in the movie that is not tedious and boring. Daphne maintains her crush on Ms. Doubleday while she and Lawrence begin some type of relationship. And from there things go from bad to very bad to failure.
I rarely give a totally bad review to anything but I find myself doing so here. Save your money and time and read "Rebecca. At least it is a classic.