England, 19th century. Little kid Pip lives with his older sister and her husband, a blacksmith, ever since the death of his parents. He encounters Magwitch, an escaped convict, on the cemetery, and gives him food and tools to break his chains. The police arrive and arrest Magwitch. Pip is summoned by the rich, but bitter Miss Havisham to be with her adopted daughter Estella on their mansion. A decade later, a grown up Pip is informed that an anonymous benefactor will finance his education in London. Pip later finds out it is Magwitch, who wanted to thank him for giving him food. Pip is unable to help Magwitch escape from England, since he is still sought after by the authorities, but finds out Estella is his daughter. After Magwitch is caught and dies, Pip persuades Estella that he loves her.
Having a title that is at the same time considered a classic of literature as much as it is regarded a classic of cinema is a rare treat. And yet, the director David Lean achieved this double feat with “Great Expectations”, a critically recognized adaptation of Charles Dickens’ eponymous novel. In fact, even today it is considered the best adaptation of this novel, having even been included in Roger Ebert’s list of Great Movies, and a golden standard of future film versions of Dickens’ rich opus. When adapting a great novel, half of the job is already done for the filmmakers, since the story and the dialogues are already written, and yet the other half of this responsibility lies on the director, actors, screenwriters interpretating it to fit the cinematic medium, and here it was done thoroughly, since the viewers cannot help but watch the entire story in one sitting. The opening sequence is already concise, having the escaped convict Magwitch encounter the kid Pip at the church backyard, where we find out everything about the latter, from the grave of his parents up to his good nature.
The sequence where the kid secretly exits the house at night, during the fog, to bring tools to Magwitch, yet imagines that a cow calls him a thief, is great in establishing the eerie mood. Naturally, every character plays a role later on, and nothing happens just like that without a payoff later on. Dickens depicts and criticizes the cruel society of England in the 19th century, where kids struggle to survive, once again having the protagonist serve as one of the rare normal and moral characters that contrast this dark era, whereas he abounds with strange details (for instance, Miss Havisham hasn’t left her mansion since her fiancé abandoned her, so all the clocks at her place stopped at that time, and she kept a giant wedding cake just standing on her table for years, illustrating her misguided reaction). Unfortunately, Miss Havisham is the most dated character, since her motivations (she wants to take revenge on men, so she trains Estelle to break every man’s heart) seem too naive and obscure in modern times. Another flaw is the rushed ending, which abruptly cuts the storyline, revealing that the novel was maybe too large to fit everything inside the movie. Nonetheless, the virtues clearly dominate, and the whole film feels intelligent and classy. Similarly like Scrooge was visited by a ghost in “A Christmas Carol”, it seems Lean was visited by Dickens’ ghost to guide him in this film adaptation, and everyone was pleased with the finished result.
Grade:+++
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