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Great Expectations Customer Reviews (10 - 12 of 17 Reviews)

A rather wealthy and eccentric Ms. Dinsmoor/originally Miss Havisham (Anne Bancroft) requests his company at her rather overgrown mansion. Everything is just as it was on the day she was deserted by her true love. She is obsessed with paying men back for this travesty and educates Estella in the ways of destroying men.

Here he meets Estella (Raquel Beaudene) as a child and later falls in love with her/Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) as young woman. The soundtrack is magical, especially, "Paradiso Perduto" at the start of the movie.

During this time Estella rejects his attempts at forming a relationship, believing it is her duty to punish men for their deceit. Fin is a fisherman and Estella is one fish in the sea of his life he can't quite figure out how to catch although she desperately wants him to catch her.

When Estella is sent away, Fin pursues his dream as an artist with the help of a mysterious benefactor. Once in New York, he find success and yet still is obsessed with Estella. He sketches her portrait in some rather playful scenes. There are also scenes of Fin running in the rain to find Estella that are just quite romantic.

If you can overlook some unsophisticated moments that really are out of place in an artistic movie, the water images are inspirational. Fin and Estella are just drawn to one another by the forces of nature. They are a drink for one another's souls and while this was not quite what I expected, it is emotionally satisfying on many levels.

A romantic story of Art and Obsessions
woven with the threads of a classic tale.

AMERICAN EXPECTATIONS
I went into this not expecting a lot. But from the very first few frames I was drawn into the story. Yes, I have read the Dickens novel in High School. Contrary to some, I kinda liked the book. But you could totally ignore the Dickens angle and enjoy this film. That being said, I was highly amused that the director chose Florida as Pip/Finn's boyhood home. The setting and the further choice of the Florida fishing culture brought a depth to the story I did not catch in the novel. New York City as the "big city" may have been a cliché; but then New York City is the center of the art world as far as America is concerned.

Mr. Hawke may have the misfortune of being paired with great actors in almost every scene in this film. Because of this, I believe the talent and ability he brings to the film may be overlooked. For the most part, Hawke is on screen with either Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro, Hank Azaria, or Gwyneth Paltrow. Although the story is supposed to be about Pip/Finn, our focus flows away from Hawke to any one of these actors.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a pretty woman but she is not fantastically beautiful as others would have her. I think this actually works to her advantage in that her beauty does not overshadow her personal charm. This allows her magic to actually work on the audience. Much is made of the nude scenes in this film; but the truth is that very little is actually shown. It is more suggested than revealed. But their effect is very electric. More effective are the surprised kisses of Hawke and Paltrow over drinking fountains. Simply the "best" kisses I have seen on film in a long time,

Most of us lose patience with great works of art dressed up in modern garb. For the most part, Shakespeare in space suit costumes is not nearly as interesting as many in the "creative community" seem to believe. But this version of Great Expectations really works in unexpected ways. Not a great film-but an absorbing one nonetheless.

Excellent adaptation of a classic tale
"Great Expectations" (1998)

This film is a cinematic masterpiece due to its colorful scenes that seem to be painted onto the screen in a perfectly precise style. "Great Expectations" is rich with imagery and a wonderful story line based on Charles Dickens' classic tale. It strays from the novel enough to make the story a more visual experience. The time period is changed to present day, but this adaptation works for the best. It allows a modern audience to identify with this classic tale in a way that would be impossible if the film were set in the 19th century. Finnegan Bell falls hopelessly in love with Estella from the first moment he lays eyes on her and proceeds throughout his life in continual pursuit of her love by attempting to become "worthy" of her. He is an orphan raised by his abusive sister and her fisherman husband, Joe. Estella is the niece of the richest lady in the state, Ms. Nora Diggers Dinsmoor. Ms. Dinsmoor requests Finn's presence at her mansion, Paradiso Perduto, on a weekly basis as a playmate for Estella and to entertain herself. Ms. Dinsmoor was left at the altar by her fiancée in prior years and has become a bitter old lady who scorns all men and believes none can be worthy of a woman's love. She schools Estella in this manner, which explains Estella's cold behavior and her rejection of Finn as anything more than a toy for her to play with his emotions. The story is told through Finn's eyes and from his perspective on what occurs as he grows up and learns about life. He has the ability to paint fabulously, a gift he has had since birth, and he uses this gift to express himself and his emotions throughout his life. It becomes a road to success and to Estella, but he loses sight of his joy and love for the art. Success becomes a trap for him when he realizes that there is more to life than himself and his own feelings. He truly grows up and even though he always loves Estella, learns what he wants out of life and how to accomplish it. "Great Expectations" is wonderfully cast, with Ethan Hawke doing an extraordinary job as the lovelorn Finn. He is believable and invokes much sympathy from the audience. Gwyneth Paltrow is superb as Estella, who conjures some hostility because of her rejection of Finn, but at the same time is capable of evoking sympathy. The way she acts is not her fault because she does not know any better. Robert De Niro puts in an excellent performance as the escaped convict who scares Finn as a young boy and has a major influence on his life. Anne Bancroft is wonderful as the eccentric Ms. Dinsmoor who acts out her hostility towards men through Estella. This film is one of the most picturesque and beautifully cinematic films I have ever seen. From the first scene until the last, each shot is carefully stylized to make the most of the scenery and the story. The theme of Finn's paintings is begun in the opening credits, with his paintings as the background and the credits appearing on the screen as if in rippling water. Each shot is precisely stylized to evoke certain emotions from the audience and to tell the story as Finn remembers it. The film looks as though many different paintings were put together to create a coherent story. The film is very peaceful, as seen through Finn's paintings and the slow, romantic musical background, but at times is jarred to reality by the people coming into Finn's life who influence him. The film can appear as if in a dream state while Finn is thinking about certain occurrences in his life, but then an event happens that shows him just how large and threatening the world is capable of being. This gives him to a new understanding of the world and his place within it. This tragic tale is given an optimistic Hollywood ending, but in my opinion, this is appropriate. It leaves some hope, even though small, of Finn reaching his ultimate goal in life of finding himself and being free of the past, "like love, completely undeserved".