Great Expectations (1998)
Director: Alfonso Cuaron Cast: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro Rated R: Language, sexuality
by Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
This is one of those extremely rare cases in which I have actually read the source text from which a film is based. Dickens' Great Expectations was one of the books that I decided might be worth my time in high school (though I was wary after David Copperfield). I was pleasantly surprised by the novel, which I found to be an entertaining and very insightful look into the growth of one young boy named Pip.
The film version, for all who have not seen the preview, is a modernization of the story. Finn is the name of the character, and he is valiantly played by Ethan Hawke. The film opens in Florida and we are introduced to Finn (as a child, played by Jeremy James Kissner) in the famous scene with the escaped convict, played by Robert De Niro. Finn brings the convict food out of the goodness of his heart, but the convict is captured anyway. Later, we meet Finn's stepfather, Joe (Chris Cooper); Finn helps Joe with his day-to-day labor, and it becomes clear that, despite their lower-class living, they are at least somewhat content with their lives.
One day, Finn gets a call from the richest woman in Florida, Mrs. Dinsmore (Ms. Havisham in the book); she wants Finn to come and entertain her with his artistic talents. When he arrives at her home, he finds an eccentric, possibly psychotic, woman (Anne Bancroft) who lives in a great big, run-down house with her niece, Estella. The film takes off from there, going through the many love battles between Estella and Finn; Finn later ends up in New York as a successful artist, still trying to win Estella's love.
What I found most fascinating about the film is how close director Alfonso Cuaron came to creating the same images that I pictured as I read the book. Given that the book is from a different time period, I find this amazing. The cinematography and production design are truly striking, most notably in the scenes depicting Mrs. Dinsmore's lavishly decadent home. The courtyard in front of the house, ornamented with overgrown trees and vines; the rooms indoors, devoid of furniture but full of empty space--the locations in this film feel detached from time, as if we could look back on them in ten or thirty or one hundred years and they will all be the same.
I also think Hawke is the perfect choice to play Finn. Hawke has the kind of strength that this character needs, and he is capable of letting the audience know that a lot of what he does is just for show, that he isn't as strong and sure of himself as he seems. Ironically, this performance is not as powerful as I was expecting. The scenes in which he is drawing Estella are very well-done; sometimes, however, when he gets into situations in which he has to speak softly and be subtle, he drops the ball and makes some lines sound silly.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Estella as an adult, and she does a great job in the role (though I pictured the character to look entirely different). I could see how some may say that she's one-dimensional, and often purely cruel, but Paltrow conveys just the right amount of inner torture, and it becomes clear that what she does to Finn is not out of spite, but out of habit. Supporting performances from Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Hank Azaria, and Robert De Niro are all unique and colorful, and add a lot of life to the film.
Like all films, this one is not perfect. I wouldn't say that it doesn't live up to the book, because I think in many ways it does. What the film does that doesn't feel quite right is that it centers far too much on the relationship between the characters and not enough on just what Finn is doing and thinking in his life. It gets almost repetitive at times, and I found myself saying, "Okay, so he's going to get screwed again here," and I nearly became detached from the story a couple times.
There are some truly brilliant scenes, though. My favorite in the film is probably the one in which Finn storms into a restaurant, approaches Estella, and says, "Would you like to dance?" with her fiancée sitting right there. After dancing for a few seconds, he takes her outside in the rain and they share a moment of passion--followed by sex, of course.
Great Expectations is thick on atmosphere and character, and in the end I found it to be an effective film. Unlike the cinematic tragedy of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Cuaron has successfully updated a classic tale, and, despite a few flaws in content and story concentration, the result is an intelligent, insightful picture that both fans of the book and those not familiar with it can enjoy.
>From 0-10: 7 Grade: B
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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