Great Expectations (1998)

Director: Alfonso Caurón
Format: DVD
DVD Features: movie trailers
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft
Trailer

I took this movie home on loan from the same friend who watched The Count of Monte Cristo with me. Originally, Great Expectations was a novel by Charles Dickens. It has been adapted many times for the big screen and the small one. This 1998 edition is the most recent of all of the movie versions. I have seen the cover of the movie countless times, but never considered renting it, as it’s not my typical cup of tea. Also, having not read the Dickens story, I can’t be sure how close the movie mirrors his original plot. However, I do like to step outside of my general sphere of film watching from time to time and experience something different, especially upon a recommendation.

Young Finn Bell (Jeremy James Kissner) is a boy of 10, living in Florida with his older sister and Uncle Joe (Chris Cooper). Aside from helping Joe out with odd jobs around town, Finn spends much of his time with a sketchbook and a pencil. One day, a rich eccentric woman hires Finn as company for her young niece Estella (Raquel Beaudene). Every weekend, he visits their mansion to dance with Estella and otherwise entertain the old woman. But, even though the crazy dame warns Finn that Estella will eventually break his heart, he falls madly in love with her as the years pass.

One day, Estella disappears without much of a goodbye. Finn, now in his twenties (Ethan Hawke) is devastated. Determined to forget her, he throws himself into work on a fishing boat and leaves his drawing behind. Quite unexpectedly, an attorney shows up at his door and tells him that an anonymous benefactor wishes to send him to New York to show his work in his own studio debut. Bell flies off to The Big City, where he runs into the beautiful Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) again. She serves as his muse and sparks a series of artwork for the show. However, she is on her way to becoming another man’s bride.

Paltrow does a magnificent job of portraying a wealthy young woman who’s been raised most particularly to break a man’s heart. She is constantly teasing Finn and allowing him just a taste of what he’s been longing for his whole life before pulling away. I have only enjoyed the actress in one other film (The Royal Tannenbaums) and she surprised me in Great Expectations. Hawke makes the transition nicely from being the naïve small-town fool, to being a mature and perpetually heartsick artist. Both of the children playing the characters as their younger selves did a superb job as well. The mad old woman in the film, Ms. Nora Dinsmoor, is played by Anne Bancroft. Granted, she is a little strange, the actress didn’t quite reach the edges of insanity and wickedness that it seemed the role called for. Her repentance at the end was hardly convincing either. Chris Cooper slid into the role of Uncle Joe with ease and fit the bill completely. Then, of course, we have Mr. Robert DeNiro, who plays an escape convict that Finn helps on more than one occasion. This actor almost never disappoints and didn’t let me down with this movie either. There’s a reason the man is a legend.

The cinematography in Great Expectations is beautiful. From the wide-open ocean landscapes to the rainy streets of Manhattan, Emmanuel Lubezki graces each scene with cool shades of blues and greens. Practically every shot is worthy of a postcard or a picture book. Francesco Clemente is the true artist behind all of Finn’s doodles and gallery work. While it’s not conventional portraiture, it has a genuine appeal and humanity about it. The song “Siren”, performed by Tori Amos floats along in the backdrop from time to time and lent a lot to the atmosphere of the picture.

I normally don’t enjoy this type of film, but I was pleasantly surprised to find both the plot and the acting quite satisfactory. There was a great sort of sorrow and eroticism in the relationship between the main characters that I enjoyed. In fact, I actually found myself a bit choked up during Hawke and DeNiro’s final scene. It’s a movie that I might not have given a chance had it not been talked up by my friend, so many thanks to him. But, ladies be warned that it might be a bit of a struggle to get your S/O to agree to.

Overall Rating: 3 ½
Hottie Rating: 3 (for the nude Gwyneth scene)

Alternate Viewing: The Illusionist
Official Site
IMDB Site
The Austin Chronicle review

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