Alfonso Cuaron (The Little Princess) directed this Mitch Glazer screenplay, a modernization of the 1860-61 classic by Charles Dickens. Some situations in the film are presented as memories -- the way the central figure, Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) recalls events many years later. At a Florida fishing village, eight-year-old .. Read more
| Starring | Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro |
|---|---|
| Director | Alfonso Cuaron |
| Genres | Drama, Romance |
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Alfonso Cuaron (The Little Princess) directed this Mitch Glazer screenplay, a modernization of the 1860-61 classic by Charles Dickens. Some situations in the film are presented as memories -- the way the central figure, Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) recalls events many years later. At a Florida fishing village, eight-year-old orphan Finn Bell (Jeremy James Kissner), talented at art, is left in the care of his sister and her husband, Joe (Chris Cooper). One day, Finn helps a chained, escaped convict who appears in the surf. On other days, he visits Paradiso Perduto, where he plays with young Estella (Raquel Beaudene), niece of the mansion's colorful, flamboyant, and extremely wealthy owner, Ms. Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft), who parallels the novel's tragic Miss Havisham, a woman jilted at the altar and left emotionally scarred and mentally imbalanced. As Ms. Dinsmoor watches Finn draw a portrait of Estella, she plots to mold Estella into a hard woman capable of destroying men. In a flash forward to the '90s, Finn (Hawke) and Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow), now in their late teens, re-create the water-fountain kiss of their childhood, but Estella vanishes, breaking Finn's heart to such a degree that he doesn't draw or paint for seven years, choosing to eke out a marginal existence with his uncle Joe (after Finn's sister abandons the two). Then Manhattan art representative Jerry Ragno (Josh Mostel) turns up with a startling offer -- if Finn will return to painting and relocate in New York, Ragno will give him a one-man show. With an apparent assist from Ms. Dinsmoor, Finn makes the move and begins his new life with great expectations and a deadline of 10 weeks to complete the necessary paintings. When Finn next encounters Estella, she has a wealthy boyfriend, Walter (Hank Azaria). As Finn once again becomes entranced by Estella, he also begins to question exactly how his life is being manipulated. Francesco Clemente did the paintings and drawings seen in the film. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
| Starring | Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro, Chris Cooper, Hank Azaria, Nell Campbell, Josh Mostel, Marla Sucharetza, Stephen Spinella, Kim Dickens, Isabelle Anderson, Raquel Beaudene, Jeremy James Kissner, Gabriel Mick |
|---|---|
| Director | Alfonso Cuaron |
| Studio | 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 47 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Genres | Drama, Romance |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish |
| Released | Production year: 1997 To Rent: DVD: 04 Feb 2002 |
A modern version of Charles Dickens's novel, with its hero turned into a brooding artist; despite the care lavished upon it, the picture is devoid of life.
- 16
- 2
Medium Expectations
This movie feels a bit flat and patchy and the characterisations are somewhat one dimensional. Paltrow is her usual pretty self, Ethan Hawke plays his usual ... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
- 0
- 0
Great expectations not rewarded
I was very disappointed in this very American adaptation of 'Great Expectations'. It lost the brooding quality of the earlier black and white version ... read more »
- 2
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Read the book instead
I had expected this to be an updated version of the book, but it was simply an American love story. The film didn't grip like the book and I couldn't ... read more »
- 3
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If you love the novel, don't watch!
What irritated me the most about this adaptation was the fact that the producers/script writers etc must have looked at the novel and decided that the only or ... read more »
Kevin Bacon is eager to appear as himself in a TV biopic about Bernie Madoff, the jailed conman who cost the actor almost all of his savings. The Wall Street fraudster was jailed for 150 years in 2009 after pleading guilty to siphoning billions of dollars from his wealthy clients, including Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick, John Malkovich and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Robert De Niro has signed up to portray the convicted fraudster in a small screen biopic for U.S. cable network HBO and Bacon wants to... Read more
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