From the director of Four Weddings And A Funeral comes this fresh, absorbing film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ beloved novel starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. After Pip, an orphaned blacksmith’s apprentice (Jeremy Irvine) inherits a fortune from an anonymous benefactor, his future seems promising. But a bitter heiress (Bonham Carter) is intent on preventing Pip from finding true love in this lush, satisfying drama that also stars Jason Flemyng, Robbie Coltrane and Holliday Grainger.
Thrillingly told, compellingly acted and beautifully shot. Bonham Carter is especially delightful as the deranged Havisham. Like any work inspired by Dickens, the new film rides on the backs of its large and colorful cast of characters, brought to life by some of England’s finest actors. What they’re carrying is heavy, and not just because it’s a classic. Is this version of “Great Expectations” indispensable? Maybe not. But it’s lovely to see the sensitivity and respect with which Newell and Nicholls attempt to renew not just Dickens’s well-worn protagonists, but also his equally enduring themes.- Michael O’Sullivan
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Jason Flemyng.
Note: At the start of Great Expectations, Pip is aged seven, the year approximately 1814. (A reference to Pip at nearly twenty-one, in a street illuminated by gas-lamps which were not introduced until 1827, tells us that Pip’s was born in approximately 1807.) Pip is about 34 years old at the end of the story when he returns to England to see Joe, Biddy and their children, placing the date around 1841. Our narrator is telling his story in 1860. So by Willow and Thatch’s calculations, Great Expectations spans the [Regency, Georgian](http://www.willowandthatch.com/period-films-to-watch/period-dramas-georgian-regency-eras/) and [Victorian](http://www.willowandthatch.com/period-films-to-watch/period-dramas-victorian-era/) eras.