Taglines: Let desire be your destiny.
Great Expectations movie storyline. 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.
Great Expectations is a 1998 contemporary film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name, co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft and Chris Cooper. It is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York. (The book was first published in 1861.) The film is an abridged modernization of Dickens’s novel, with the hero’s name having also been changed from Pip to Finn, and the character Miss Havisham has been renamed Nora Dinsmoor. The film received mixed reviews.
About the Story
Ten-year-old Finnegan “Finn” Bell, an orphan being raised by his elder sister Maggie and her boyfriend Joe, is playing on a beach in the Gulf Coast when an escaped convict suddenly pops out of the water and overpowers him. He makes Finn promise to bring back food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg. Finn complies, but the convict takes him as a hostage and tries to escape by boat to Mexico. The police seize the small boat heading out to sea. The convict hides on a buoy and the police tow Finn back to land. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict was a mobster named Arthur Lustig who had escaped from death row, but has now been recaptured.
Joe is called to do gardening work at “Paradiso Perduto”, the mansion of the richest woman in Florida, Nora Dinsmoor. Ms. Dinsmoor has lived as a recluse since she was left at the altar by her fiancé many years before. Finn accompanies Joe and encounters Dinsmoor’s young niece, the beautiful Estella. Dinsmoor invites Finn to come back and play with Estella. On Finn’s first visit Estella behaves haughtily, but her aunt forces her into sitting for an impromptu portrait by Finn. While he draws, Mrs. Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken.
Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto every Saturday and develops into a talented painter. Although Estella is at times flirtatious, even attempting to seduce Finn at one point, she leaves without telling him to study abroad in Europe. Heartbroken, Finn gives up painting and his visits to Paradiso Perduto.
Seven years later, a lawyer comes to Finn and tells him that a gallery owner in New York City is interested in showing his work. Finn is perplexed but agrees to go. Once he arrives he encounters Estella in the park, whom Ms. Dinsmoor had mentioned was also in New York. Estella is in a relationship with a wealthy businessman, Walter. She resumes her flirtatious behavior towards Finn, posing nude in his apartment and arousing the jealousy of Walter.
Eventually Finn, frustrated by Estella’s evasiveness, lures her away from Walter and the two make love. She tells him that she is going away briefly to visit her aunt, but she will be back to attend the opening of Finn’s show. However, on the night of the opening Estella fails to materialize. Instead, Uncle Joe shows up, who inadvertently embarrasses Finn with his crudeness.
Finn then goes to Estella’s abode in New York, hoping to find her there, but instead he finds Ms. Dinsmoor, who reveals that she came to New York to attend Estella’s wedding to Walter. When Finn becomes upset at the news, she tells him that Estella was using him all along to make Walter jealous and convince him to marry her. When she realizes how seriously she has upset him, she grows remorseful and apologizes for her manipulation, but it is too late.
Finn returns to his studio to find a strange bearded man wanting to see him: It is none other than Arthur Lustig. Finn is at first incredulous, but then he becomes uncomfortable with the old man’s presence and implies that he should leave. As Lustig is walking out the door, his off-hand comments make Finn aware that he, and not the wealthy Ms. Dinsmoor, has in fact been Finn’s benefactor during Finn’s entire time in New York. Finn thus accompanies Lustig to the subway station.
Great Expectations movie trailer.
Great Expectations (1998)
Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro, Kim Dickens, Nell Campbell, Raquel Beaudene, Marla Sucharetza
Screenplay by: Mitch Glazer
Production Design by: Tony Burrough
Cinematography by: Emmanuel Lubezki
Film Editing by: Steven Weisberg
Costume Design by: Judianna Makovsky
Set Decoration by: Susan Bode
Art Direction by: John Kasarda
Music by: Patrick Doyle
MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexuality.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 30, 1998
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