Masterpiece Classic: Great Expectations

Great Expectations takes a dark route to the thick of things in this new presentation. The characters' story-lines' complexity is amped up, the clash of classes are heavily emphasized, and the plot takes slight detours from the original.Pip becomes the unfortunate target of Miss Havisham's bad intentions. As a practice boy for Estella to break, Pip must struggle with his desire for her and his ambition for grandeur. Miss Havisham is portrayed beautifully by Gillian Anderson as a pearly white ghost bride that haunts Satis House. Douglas Booth performs brilliantly as Pip who is stuck between classes and between potential benefactors. Characters Biddy, the Wopsole, and the Hubbles are completely deleted. The Pocket Family has a only a brief cameo. This will outrage purists but their deletion allows for more density to be added to the plot of the other characters. The extra backstory of Miss Havisham's brother as a collector of beauty was very intriguing.Pip is led to believe early on he is destined for great things. Miss Havisham imbues in the boy a sense of wonder for the world beyond the forge. This leads to a letdown that places Pip squarely in his place. Miss Havisham uses the phrase "your people" many times to refer to Pip's family also as a way of knowing one's place. Bentley Drummle can see through Pip's forced eloquence to something that does not belong to society. And even Pip the gentleman treats Joe rather sharply and coldly.The slight detours I mention might upset Dickensonian elitists but the change is refreshing. Nothing happens that is not within what the characters are capable of. Magwitch's wife Molly's relationship to Mr. Jaggers is more intimate than in the book. Miss Havisham is more ethereal and flighty (if possible) than the original. Estella and Pip share an almost intimate moment. And there are a few others that might surprise you...All in all, this is a fresh version veiled in Gothic romance and Victorian elegance. The acting is superb, the cinematography is like watching a painting at times, and the presentation in full is exquisite. I have read this book many many times and this version has revitalized the original and I feel I have read for the first time, again.

I think that this is absolutely one of the best versions of "Great Expectations" that I have seen to date. I know that some professional reviewers have labeled this made for TV version as pretty bleak and uninspiring, but I guess that depends on what you are looking for. There is nothing "pretty" or "festive" about Dicken's book, so why would a director want to turn it into some kind of pretty and elegant extravaganza like a Jane Austin novel ?"Great Expectations" IS bleak and it is almost as much about the jilted bride, Miss Havisham, as it is about young Pip. I think that Gillian Anderson does a marvelous job at portraying Miss Havisham as a woman who has been totally destroyed by love and now has devoted her entire life to grooming her young prodigy, Estella ,to win the hearts of men and then destroy them. I find her blank stare and listlessness and her delivery of those incredible lines about love and beauty and deception, remarkable. I have actually known people like her, suffering from clinical depression, who act exactly like that. Her line: "Time stands still here, yet everything turns to dust", is a classic line, which exemplfies her feelings that even if you could stop time, beauty will ultimately age and wither and turn to dust.The plot, as in most Dickens works, is complex and convoluted with plots within plots so one does need to pay attention. I think that the director delt accurately with the class distinctions of those days and the abject poverty of uneducated rural people. And he,interestingly enough, displayed that there was good and evil at both ends of the spectrum. This is a marvelous study in human nature, showing how people tend to do themselves in by spending their lives in passivity, merely reacting to situations rather than taking charge of their lives and creating situations that will lead to their success and happiness.

I've loved this PBS series from the moment I started watching it a decade ago. Had to have it on DVD. Still just as "Great" as my "Expectations."

This is the only version of Great Expectations that has allowed me to view Miss Havisham as a deeply hurt depressed woman who might have just needed intervention and love and friendship and therapy to give life and people a chance again. Before this version I had only thought of her as an evil bitchy heartless hag who must have deserved to be jilted at the altar to begin with. It made me want to know her complete story including her childhood, her fiancee, and the events leading up to her being stood up at her wedding. And near the end where she realizes what a horrible thing she has done playing with and ruining Pip and Estella's lives like that and decides to set herself on fire, I felt myself thinking "No don't do that!" I wanted to reach into the TV and save her instead of cheering at her death.

Beautiful and haunting. The set design and the cinematography on this film are so good, it is worth watching just for these aspects. The casting/acting, direction, script, costume, hair & make-up are all nearly flawless. (The film even successfully manages to deliver beauty out of ugliness and misery - a constant theme throughout the story.) The only slight criticism I have is that the stunning set design is a bit overdone in places, as is Miss Havisham's performance and makeup in the first half. Still an extraordinary and sensitive adaptation. If you like period films and are a fan of the story –that is you don't mind a bit of gloom mixed in with your triumph of vitue and happiness and complex characters– you will enjoy this.

Darsteller und szenische Umsetzung sind auf höchstem Niveau. Ich habe alle drei Folgen in einem Rutsch geguckt, weil es mich so gefesselt hat. Mehr als fünf Sterne!!!

Le visionnement de cette série en cinq épisodes m'a ravi. Beauté des images, ingéniosité du scénario, excellente direction des acteurs et ceux-ci excellents dans leur emploi. À revoir !

Serie molto bella. Facile da capire. Oltre ai sottotitoli in tedesco avrebbero potuto inserire anche quelli in inglese

L’histoire.Trois personnages principaux :Miss Avisham, fiancée plaquée le jour de son mariage, qui vit recluse dans l’univers de pourriture de son repas de noces. C’est une vieille fille perverse et manipulatrice. Jouée de manière très brillante par Gillian Anderson dont le talent parvient à nous rendre sympathique, voire une pauvre victime, ce personnage machiavélique.Estella, la fille adoptive de Miss Avisham, préado prétentieuse qui préfigure la jeune fille froide et insensible, qu’ambitionne sa mère adoptive depuis toujours qu’elle soit.Pip, victime expiatoire des déboires amoureux de Miss Avisham par l’entremise de la petite Estella, à qui elle confie la tâche d’en briser le cœur.Sur cette idée, good uncle Charlie va nous conter une histoire qui va se dérouler sur plusieurs années faisant entrer en scènes un cortège de personnages tour à tour pittoresques, sombres, généreux, sadiques, farfelus, austères et autres.Le déroulé de l’histoire :Pip grandi. Évidemment il tombe amoureux d’Estella qui l’éconduit, normal. Estella lutte contre l’ambiguïté du personnage dans lequel Miss Avisham l’a moulée, mais la rigueur de la société victorienne la fait entrer dans le rang, elle en épouse un autre. Quant à Miss Avisham elle conclue sa folie dans le feu de joie qu’elle allume avec la correspondance de sa fille adoptive dans lequel elle se consumera.En conclusion :Pip finira par réagir lorsqu’on lui mettra les points sur les « i ». Sa tentative de fuite avec son bienfaiteur échouera. Avec la mort de celui-ci, il sortira de son enfance en perdant ses illusions de devenir un gentleman de la bourgeoisie Londonienne, retournant à la forge de ses débuts. Mais, comme la providence le fait parfois, rebondissement ! Un malheureux concours de circonstances fera en sorte qu’Estella devienne veuve. Ainsi libérée de la peau du personnage dans lequel Miss Avisham l’avait faite entrée, elle s’en retourne au manoir de son enfance. Pip, pas rancunier pour deux pennies, revient la chercher. C’est ainsi qu’Estella guettant son retour se laisse enfin aller, y court même, vers cet amour qui lui était jusqu’à lors interdit. La logique des amours éternelles, les yeux dans les yeux, contre lesquels toutes les machinations infernales ne peuvent rien faire.Thankyou uncle Charlie for the happy ending.La distribution :Très bonne distribution, Gillian Anderson remarquable dans le rôle de Miss Avisham, Vanessa Kerby et Douglas Booth ont l’âge de leurs rôles, Shaun Dooley le gentil forgeron qui ne tuerait pas une mouche avec son marteau, Ray Winstone en forçat qui prouve qu’un homme n’est pas forcément pourri à 100 %, David Suchet homme de loi austère mais pas tout le temps, Harry Lloyd en vieux pote fauché mais fidèle, Tom Burke le méchant de service, Frances Barber maquignone dans la bourgeoisie Londonienne, Mark Addy le colporteur rougeot de bonnes et mauvaises nouvelles, et tous les autres.Très beaux paysages, décors intérieurs moyens, très beaux costumes surtout les féminins, faut dire que la mode début 19 ème est très agréable à regarder.Le DVDPréférer la version en langue anglaise, pour ceux qui ne sont pas familiers avec le parlé cockney utiliser le sous titrage en anglais.Combslavillais

Charles Dickens és un dels grans escriptors en llengua anglesa. Les seves obres van traspassar fronteres i actualment és un autor de renom universal. Creador de personatges imprescindibles, les seves obres són un gran mirall de la seva pròpia vida i de les experiències viscudes en una Anglaterra difícil, la del segle XIX, que veia com les ciutats es transformaven i s'embrutien amb la construcció de centenars de fàbriques i creixien sense control per acollir a les persones que immigraven per a treballar en elles. Els seus personatges estan treballats meravellosament des del punt de vista psicològic i demostren com patia una societat que veia com el progrés i la modernitat feia desaparèixer el concepte de comunitat que tenien per a crear-ne un de nou, base de les noves societats capitalistes i industrials. Malgrat totes les pors i incerteses, els personatges Dickensians sempre s'aferren a l'esperança en un futur més brillant per a continuar endavant i superar tota mena d'adversitats.La sèrie porta el segell de qualitat de la BBC i cal destacar l'excel·lent interpretació dels seus actors, especialment Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully a The X Files) i David Suchet (Hercule Poirot a Poirot). Totalment recomanable!