Review of Great Expectations (1998) by Javiera S — 05 Mar 2008

Intense, riveting and beautifully-crafted but the story suffers so many truncations that certain narrative loopholes and inconsistencies are bound to develop. Nonetheless it is one of the best modernisations of any story I have ever watched on screen, with incredible chemistry between Hawke and Paltrow and a usual commanding performance from DeNiro.

Bancroft was wonderful until her very last scene at the stair landing, which I felt was totally unnecessary and diminished her character somewhat. I watched this way after I read Dicken's original novel (probably my favourite Dicken's work) and it made me want to read it again, so evocative it was.