Great Expectations

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins with young Finnegan "Finn" Bell (Ethan Hawke) exploring the beaches of the Gulf Coast of Florida. An escaped convict (Robert De Niro) suddenly pops out of the water and overpowers him, making Finn promise to bring back food and medicine and a bolt cutter to get the iron shanks off his leg next day. Finn does, and the convict unexpectedly tries to make Finn take him by boat to Mexico. The police seize the small boat heading out to sea. The convict hides on a buoy, and Finn's boat is towed back to shore. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict has been caught, and that he was Arthur Lustig, a former mobster and his sentence is the death penalty.Uncle Joe (Chris Cooper) gets called to Paradiso Perduto ("lost paradise"), home of the richest lady in Florida, Ms. Nora Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft). Ms Dinsmoor had gone crazy several years before after being left standing at the altar by her fiancee. Ostensibly he was called there for a gardening job, but he does no gardening. Instead, she slips him a large sum of money under the door, calling it "gas money." Meanwhile, Finn, who he brought along, meets young Estella (Gweneth Paltrow) in the overgrown garden. Ms Dinsmoor sees them interacting and calls Maggie (Kim Dickens), Finn's sister, to ask her to let Finn be a playmate for Estella, even though Estella apparently dislikes Finn. Maggie pushes Finn into this for the money.On Finn's first visit to Ms Dinsmoor, she is disappointed when Finn cannot dance for her, but is intrigued when he says he can draw. She forces Estella to sit for a portrait, which Finn draws with make up on an old piece of wallpaper. While he draws, Ms Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken. After the portrait session, Ms. Dinsmoor calls it a day and asks Estella to help Finn find the door. On the way out, she pauses to take a drink from a water fountain and politely offers him a drink from it as well. While Finn is drinking, Estella, who was playing a trick on him, manages to give him a tongue kiss.Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone, despite there being no blood relation. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto every Saturday, where he learns to dance with Estella. One day, Estella (now played by Gwyneth Paltrow) mentions that she has a party to attend. Ms Dinsmoor is shocked that she does not have an escort to take her, to her dismay ("It's the '80s!"), so Finn (now played by Ethan Hawke) volunteers to escort. Estella quickly agrees (though rather annoyed at Ms. Dinsmoor's over-protectiveness). When Finn shows up at the party, he is not allowed in because he is not on the guest list. Estella shows up beside his pick-up truck and asks him playfully if he will take her to his house. Finn agrees. Once they get there, Estella starts to seduce Finn, getting him to put his hands up her dress, and they make out heavily. Then she suddenly leaves, claiming that she is very busy that night. The mention of the party was merely another trick to seduce Finn, showing Estella still makes advances on him, which are also implied to be increasingly sexual.The next day, Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto, only to be told by Ms Dinsmoor that Estella had left to study abroad in Europe. Finn is considerably upset. For the next seven years he resolutely puts Estella and Ms Dinsmoor out of his mind, along with other high class things like his art. He helps Joe out with his fishing business.One day, a lawyer comes to Finn and tells him that he will have a gallery show in New York City. Finn and Uncle Joe are astonished at this stroke of luck, not the less because Finn has not drawn ever since Estella left. In the end, Finn is convinced to go to New York, which Estella had once claimed was the art capital of the world. When he arrives, he immediately gets to work drawing again, since he has no pieces to put on exhibit. He sits down in the East Village's Tompkins Square Park, drawing everything he sees and revealing that he has not lost his skill. He takes a break to get a drink from a water fountain - the park's historic Temperance Fountain - and while he is drinking, Estella appears and kisses him. She then invites him to afternoon tea with her at a high class club.Finn arrives to tea with Estella and some of her high class friends. He only has eyes for Estella, but is rudely brought back to earth when Estella introduces her fiancé, Walter Plane (Hank Azaria). Walter teases him by asking how much he would charge to draw a portrait of Estella. He then leaves in a hurry amidst the laughter of Estella's friends.One day, Finn wakes up in his hotel room to see Estella standing next to him. When he expresses surprise, Estella reminds him that he had wanted to draw a portrait of her. While he prepares his sketch pad and charcoal, Estella removes her clothes. Finn draws many sketches of her naked in different positions. Estella suddenly puts her clothes back on and leaves, saying that she is very busy. Growing sick of Estella's games, Finn chases her out to a cab and asks why she keeps doing this to him. Estella looks sad while explaining through a metaphor that she was trained to act this way by her Aunt Dinsmoor.Walter shows up at Finn's hotel room one day, wanting to see the result of the portrait session, and is blown away at the nudity. He then confesses to Finn that he thinks Estella is using Finn to push Walter into asking her to marry him and asks him how to please her, as she was a childhood friend of his. Finn has no idea how to respond and Walter soon leaves.The lawyer who had found Finn in Florida shows up again, moving Finn to a big studio where he can work on his art more comfortably. Finn quickly fills up the studio with his artwork as the opening date of his gallery draws nearer. He makes Estella say that she will be there.One night, at an important event, Finn becomes frustrated when Walter draws Estella away when he barely even got to talk to her. He follows them to their dinner at a Chinese restaurant. As the bemused dinner guests look on, Finn asks Estella to dance. They dance for a few seconds and then leave the restaurant. Once on the sidewalk, they run for Finn's art studio where they engage in passionate sex.Finally, the opening night of Finn's gallery show arrives. He looks everywhere for Estella but she is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Uncle Joe shows up, to Finn's surprise and, to some degree, embarrassment. When Joe accidentally knocks a tray of wine glasses over and tries to clean up the mess, Finn repeatedly tells him with increasing volume to "just leave it." Joe feels that he and his homely manners are an embarrassment to Finn and decides to leave early, despite Finn's attempts to get him to stay. Finn then goes to Estella's abode in New York, hoping to find her there, but instead he finds Ms Dinsmoor there, who had come up to New York for the "special event." When Finn asks if she means his gallery opening, she tells him, no, she came up for Estella's wedding. When Finn becomes upset at this news, she says icily that she warned him when he was a child. At this, Finn tells Ms Dinsmoor that she has broken his heart, the way her fiance did all those years ago in the same way she had revealed her heart was broken. At this comparison, Ms Dinsmoor breaks down and apologizes remorsefully. Finn returns to his studio to find a strange bearded man wanting to see him.The strange man turns out to be Arthur Lustig. He reveals his identity to Finn in a roundabout way. 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, he hints to Finn that he has knowledge of what Finn wants. Finn thus accompanies Lustig to the subway station, since Lustig has a plane to catch from the John F. Kennedy International Airport for Paris.While they are waiting for a train, Lustig sees some unsavory and muscular acquaintances on the opposite platform. Finn and Lustig outmaneuver them and get on a train. They think they are safe, but as the train is in motion one of the old acquaintances comes through the car and brutally stabs Lustig in the side, stepping off the train at the next stop. As Lustig bleeds to death in Finn's arms, he reveals that he has been Finn's benefactor, paying for the lawyer, the gallery, the studio, the plane ticket, and even buying every single piece that Finn had up at the gallery. This was in return for the kindness that Finn showed to him as a child.This news, along with Estella's wedding, is too much for Finn. He detaches himself from everything and goes to Paris to study art. He becomes successful in his own right, and eventually he goes back to Florida for a visit. There he visits his Uncle Joe and reconciles with him. Ms Dinsmoor has long since died and Paradiso Perduto is decrepit and falling down, and scheduled for demolition, but he decides to visit her house anyway. As he is sitting in the garden, he thinks he sees the apparition of Estella as a child (though this one is laughing and smiling, a contrast to the haughty, grim-faced child he once knew). He follows the little girl through to the back dock where he finds the child's mother, who turns out to be Estella. Estella had since gotten divorced. She admits that she has often thought of him, and asks for his forgiveness for all the cruel ways that she had toyed with him in the past. Finn forgives her completely, and the movie ends with them holding hands and looking out over the sea.

Tags: revenge, murder, romantic

Review:
I have never read Dickens' "Great Expectations," but I can tell you that this is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
It is my understanding that this movie is loosely based on the Dickens' book, but that it does follow the themes, just not the exact story.
It is always going to be a challenge to take a classic novel and turn it into be a movie that will satisfy everyone, especially when the story is being changed and adapted to fit a modern setting.
If what you want to find from this movie is an exact translation of the book you will be unimpressed.I personally loved this movie, it is completely stylish thanks to a brilliant soundtrack and the gorgeous leads Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow (who is cast perfectly as the beautiful ice queen).
The problem, however, is that in trying to fit a story as long and complicated as Great expectations' into a 90 minute movie you loose a lot of the development of the characters necessary to identify and have an emotional reaction to them.Rather than linger on these issues Alfonso Cuaron concentrated on the visual aspect of the movie and the result is a movie that is great to watch!.
For beginning, Alfonso Cuarón is one of my favourite directors; and this work of him puts together a great cast of actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke, Robert De Niro, Chris Cooper and Anne Bancroft.
Besides, Alfonso Cuarón used his materials perfectly through matching the relations of these materials between each other: 1- Ms.Dinsmoor and her oath of revenge against mankind, that composes feminism 2- Estella and her enchanting beauty, falling the trap of pride 3- Finn and his pure emotions, falling the trap of loving an insensitive beauty 4- The mysterious benefactor of Finn who bears compunction of his past actions in his life and thus is laying down all of his possessions to Finn, whom he knows as a good-hearted little kidThe screenplay is so powerful that solidifies the plot with new original features including surrealist drawings of Finn, that turns the movie a real work of art.
Great Expectations is one of the few films that can incorporate stunning visuals, one of the best soundtracks to ever grace a film and simply characters that you truly care about by the end of the film.It's true that the character development on the character of Finn is a little weak, but the characters of Estella and the over flamboyant and heartbroken Miss Dinnsmore certainly make up for Finn's minor flaws.
Great Expectations is certainly worth a rental (or even purchase) for anyone that enjoys simply a good, immersive movie with some absolutely beautiful imagery..
Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow are great and Chris Cooper turns in a very subtle but powerful performance as Finn's guardian.
It cannot be said to be a total loss, the basic elements are intact, it is only the embellishments Charles Dickens developed in the novel to make the story more realistic that are missing.One success, I must admit that I observed while watching the film was the rich visual setting.
Great Expectations (1998) ***1/2 Starring: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Kim Dickens Director: Alfonso Cuaron  111 minutes    Rated RBy Blake French: The only thing keeping "Great Expectations" from being one of the best films of the year is the dialogue, which is too proper.
It has so many levels of beauty ; storyline, acting, cinematography, music, casting...Like any great form of art it evokes passion.
Thanks in part to this "bomb," it took me awhile to get around to looking at the good film presentation of this famous Charles Dickens story, the one directed by David Lean in the late 194-0s, the one that is actually on the book and not some blasphemous "modernization." Regardless, the 1946 film was good movie-making; this is crap.
That's putting it nicely.Just listen to the profanity in the first 15 minutes of this movie and tell me you feel like your into a Dickens novel.
Since the female interest of "Pip" is not someone to admire or root for, it was better to have her as a minor character as in the '46 film, instead a major one here.Also, this rich-is-evil story that Hollywood loves is so hypocritical it's laughable.
I did not have any expectations before I saw this film, no pun intended, I had not read the book but am a fan of Hawke and Paltrow, and De Niro.I enjoyed this movie, it had a style that I found compelling and Paltrow was simply dripping with sensuality.
2 scenes stick in my head from the film, the scene of Finn and Estella at Finn's house and of them under the bridge.This is not a Meg Ryan love story, this is a story of a girl raised by a tormented Aunt and a young man who thinks he has nothing to offer.7 out of 10..
I read the book "Great Expectations" By Charles Dickens my senior year of high school but I was not very intrigued by it.
Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, and Anne Brancroft all portray their characters very well.
Great Expectations is definitely my new favorite movie of all time.
Although Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow are as romantic a pair of lovers as you will find on the current cinema scene, Great Expectations is like all Charles Dickens novels, a plea for social justice in the setting of the time and place they were written.
After that good things just keep coming his way and Pip develops some Great Expectations about his prospects.In the novel our protagonist Pip goes into business, but in this case young Finn now grown up Ethan Hawke becomes a painter and he gets a few unseen boosts up the ladder of success.
The ending for Hawke and Paltrow could have been kept within the spirit of the original novel.Robert DeNiro has now put his own interpretation on three classic movie portrayals of the past, Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear, Richard Widmark in Night And The City, and now Finlay Currie as the escaped convict Magwitch.
His part is completely updated to 20th Century America and still it's in the spirit of what Dickens wrote for Magwitch.This version of Great Expectations is a nice romantic film, but it's not in any way what Charles Dickens was writing about..
If it helps, compare it to Wonder Dog. This movie is beautiful to look at, acted brilliantly, and, oh, let's not forget, written by the 2nd best writer, Charles Dickens, who ever lived (I'm afraid Shakespeare gets first place...)?
don't be so picky about what movies get the "great" label...Or, if you are going to be picky, do so in a SANE way.Yes, this is a "modern" version of the story, but let's not forget that that merely means unimportant details like the time period have changed, but the core themes of love and obsession and class mobility are portrayed in a way that deserves to be remembered for all time as a classic of human art..
As a love story the film holds its own - Hawke and Paltrow seem to have a chemistry that does not come off as forced as in some of their other respective works.
See David Lean's superb 1946 version if you want to see the best screen adaptation of any Dickens work, and see this movie for what it is, a beautifully realized and visually arresting film.
The secret to approaching this version is contained right at the beginning of the film, where the older Finn, as narrator, informs us that the story is not to be told as it actually happened, but as it's remembered.
Everything was great, although slow at times, it was great.Gwyneth Paltrow was amazing as Estella, she played the cold-hearted character excellently.
They have said that this film reads like a badly abridged version of the original, and that several characters-mainly Finn/Pip-are cast in a different light.
This movie promised to be quite a provocative experience, as I was quite impressed with the soundtrack and the videos that were based around the love story theme.
Because this aspect was underplayed to the point of non-existence, there was no real impact upon learning about Robert De Nero's true role in Finn's life.Despite the lovely cinematography (it had a very stylish feel), overall, this movie was weak--weak in its adaptation, its feeling, its depth.
The main character's name is Pip and not Finn, and there is no connection to art or exhibitions, but it talks about poverty and the gap between the poor and rich, and not about a shallow love story.To call this movie an "An American update" or "Modernization of Charles Dickens classic story " is not true, they just raped the story, and made it as shallow as possible.
they did not keep the spirit of the novel, or any of the symbolism.And even if I want to forget the connection to Charles Dickens's novel, still this movie is not worth seeing, week characters, week acting (Ethan Hawke has no Idea how one should act.
I love the way the director uses the colour green all the time (at the end of the day, green is the color of hopes and expectations)I think we all can see ourselves somehow pictured in the character of Finn lost in this world, just trying to find happiness..
It ONLY makes sense as a cinematic translation of a novel by Charles Dickens - and on those terms, it's not very good.On any terms, I can't help thinking that the central character Finn (the fuzzy shadow of Pip) is a failure.
It all evolves to New York City where the chain of events throws the plot topsy turvy with characters reversing roles and the movies central figure, the boy-man-artist, discovering the truth about his long, lost love and the escaped-con he helped so many years ago.
The novel is my all time favorite, and although many movies don't follow the novel, Great Expectations has numerous similarities making it very close.
Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a well rounded character who leads Finn (Ethan Hawke) on  an assumption that they are a couple.It is a story of love, adventure,and comedy.
Modernization of Charles Dickens' classic story finds the hapless Finn as a painter in New York pursuing his unrequited and haughty childhood love..
Excellent performances by Ethan Hawke,Robert de Niro and Gwyneth Paltrow and a great director make this movie one of the best surprises of 1998..
While the novel is of course a classic, the film has so much more resonance.Ethan Hawke is properly cast and Gwyneth Paltrow provides one of her best(and most different) performances.
I saw this film last night with no history of the story, I actually didn't know it was a Dickens novel until I went looking for more info online.
I've not read the novel by Charles Dickens, and didn't know anything about the film's plot.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Bancroft did a great playing, Ethan Hawke not too bad.
This film has some atmospheric moments and good set designs but is ruined by hammy acting and gross pretentiousness, due possibly to a poor attempt to give a Dickens' story a modern interpretation.In any event a talented painter falls in love with a snobby "princess" and it is only later in his life can he apparently fulfill some of his desires.
The scene where young (and old) Finn drinks from the fountain and Estella leans over and tongues him is highly (read -sooooooooooo) erotic it's bound to give any man a hardon because Gwyneth Paltrow (although she probably has a bulimic thing going on) is sooooooooooo sexy and attractive in this movie.
Hey man, i've not read the original charles dickens novel by the same name, though its been recommended to me, but i gotta say this was a daamn good film.
As for the plot, I must admit that it talks about another love story but anyway I would recommend everyone to watch the film and if they have the possibility, to read the Dickens' book too..
ethan hawke is excellent,suffering for love.the same goes to robert deniro,anne bancroft and chris cooper.
and even who doest liked great expectations,you have to agree its not a bad movie..
great story , and that was expected , we all know dickens's great expectations, it makes u live in a real big dream , but any ways i have 2 put a useful comment here, so lets start Finn, the young boy , who shows at the very beginning of the movie, as a young boy , in his small fishing boat , from some kind of a poor socioeconomic status , ends to be the famous , rich painter , and through out the movie , u think that , old lady , dinsmore, helped him to reach his success, to get surprised at the end , that , it was a good thing he did(thats what De Nero said) helping a man escaping prison , who knows why he did so ?
that thing , was paid back to him , in the for of a lawyer , came out of no where 2 make his dreams come true , and so , he became equal 2 Estella, the rich girl that he knew when he was young , but the problem was that , this girl was raised by her aunt densmore, who taught her nothing but how 2 break men hearts and movie goes on Finn , was a real nice actor ( thts what i think ) miss densmore , the weird rich woman , was great if we excluded some scenes of over acting .
i think the movie does a much better job of telling the story, even though it wasn't exactly the story that dickens told.i found that the use of symbolism was very present throughout the film.
he is jealous of anything and everything that is around estella, a point that i think the book made better than the movie did.paradiso perduto is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen.
The central theme of the film is based on the forbidden love between Finn (Ethan Hawke) and Estella (Paltrow) and how they can never achieve it.
Eventually Estella leaves and breaks Finn's heart accomplishing her aunt's goal.Both Hawke and Paltrow give good performances to this film, but are both overshined by the shorter performances by Anne Bancroft (Estella's aunt) and Robert DeNiro (a convict who supports Finn's art career).
Big mistake: I should have trusted my 'usually' more than his.And it started off so well, too as the young Pip's encounter with the convict - particularly in that magical nocturnal scene - had promised so much, as had the Everglades location and that faded elegance of Miss Havisham's mansion.But then, gradually - perhaps in the director's wish to have his film less of a remake/update - it became less about how best to use that rich cast of supporting Dickens/Lean characters, and more about how best to use failsafe Hollywood tropes - such as the fish-out-of-water New York arty-world - of 'Crocodile Dundee' - and the stirring 'running-up-the- steps' soundtrack music from the first 'Rocky'; and the notion that the poor and downtrodden could succeed against all the odds - if given just one chance.And that wasn't the half of it: Robert de Niro's interpretation of his character was an amalgam of past glories: of his 'Cape Fear' and 'Angel Heart' characterisations; even his great revelation speech was delivered in the monotone of his 'Raging Bull' stand-up dressing-room monologue.
it has a magic aura - the kiss scene, De Niro performance, Gwyneth Paltrow as impressive ice Estella and Ethan Hawke as Pip, the inspired music and New York as fascinating scene are the ingredients of an adaptation who has high chance to be memorable.
As a high school student, I had to read Charles Dicken's Great Expectations and I thought it was a good book, with many themes on love and wealthiness.
Ethan Hawke does a great job as Finn and likewise for Gwyneth Paltrow as Estella.
Based on an eponymous book of Charles Dickens, the movie directed by Mexican Alfonso Cuarón is a new version of the story.A little boy, Finnegan Bell, lives in the country with his sister.
Unlike many of the others that have commented, I liked the portrayal of Estella and Fin by the two leads, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke, but not the artificial over-acting of Anne Bancroft as the twisted Ms. Dinsmoor.
I think that this movie was completely insulting to Charles Dickens' original novel.
Great Expectations is an excellent movie : 10/10+++.
The Great Expectations is by far the best movie, that i ever seen.
I saw this movie for the first time on TV, by accident, and wasn´t expecting anything great until the scene where Finn and Estella kissed each other by the water fountain.
I think the movie is worth seeing because of the vibrant play between Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke and the photography, despite the fact, that the story is quite anachronistic to modern life..
I think Great Expectations is one of the best films I've seen.
This film shows me that Ethan Hawke is a good actor and that he should take better roles.
I like Gwyneth Paltrow because she is not afraid of taking roles like these - cold, heartless, naked.Great Expectations is one of the best films of 1998.
Anyway, I fell in love with the movie.Ethan Hawke is absolutely right for the role and so is Gwyneth Paltrow.
The core of the book by Charles Dickens is in there too (I read it after I saw this movie, just had to!!).
The background music with the people talking is great.You know, there is nothing in this movie which tells me why I fell in love with it.