So, with that in mind, I didn't really like today's movie, at all. It felt like it was six hours long, even though it was only two. I didn't care about the characters. I didn't like the plot. The way everyone talked just irritated me. I did not like Pip's large bow ties.
Since we are taught to, yunno, try to say something nice about things, I will say that Miss Havisham was an incredible part of the film. She is an old woman who sits in her dark, musty home, wearing a wedding dress. She has sat there, her wedding cake rotting, her feast laid out in front of her, since the day her husband-to-be left her. She is so creepy and insane, and I loved all of the scenes with her. The cobweb covered set that she sits in is just awesome, and very atmospheric.
Other than that, I am not so into this movie. Little Pip meets Estella in the house, who has been raised by Miss Havisham to "break men's hearts." Oh, women! This is sort of stupid, I think. Pip of course falls in love with Estella even though she just yells at him all the time. For the rest of the movie, Pip loves Estella, which I think is doofy. Pip is given money from a "mysterious benefactor" and he goes off to become a gentlemen or whatever it is they do in England. Afterwards, he wears really big bow ties and speaks formally, and he assumes he will marry Estella because of this. I guess conflict comes of the fact that he doesn't, but I didn't notice, because I didn't care.
Ok, I sound mean. Deep breaths. Charles Dickens can't get me. Probably. I felt like it took me all day to watch this movie, and so I feel like I wasted my whole day, which is why I feel so annoyed by the movie. It's not the director's fault that the movie is so blah. It's mostly just that I wasn't familiar with the source material and didn't really want to be, honestly. I don't get Dickens, although I've never tried very hard to, so it's mostly my fault that I didn't like the movie. I know that Dickens is a great author, I'm just not a fan, from the very little that I've read. Probably this is an issue with me, and not so much anything else.
So, in conclusion, I didn't really like this movie for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because I never read Great Expectations or have really been a fan of Dickens. It felt really long and dull, and just did not work for me today. I just could not get into this movie, no matter how hard I tried. I really liked the scenes with the creepy Miss Havisham. She was a great, over-the-top character, but I totally bought into it because they set she was in was so well crafted and the actress was so incredible. Her scenes were really interesting and eerie, and I really enjoyed those. Other than that, I didn't love too much about this. Instead of whining endlessly, I'll just keep my thoughts short. :)
Have any of you seen Great Expectations? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Links:
Ebert's Great Movie Essay on Great Expectations
Buy it on Amazon
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