Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.
Production
Miss Havisham's decaying mansion is production design heaven.
Acting
Bonham Carter and Fiennes devour every scene like starving aristocrats.
Cinematography
Misty marshes and candlelit decay—Dickens as Pinterest board.
Director
Mike Newell
Jeremy Irvine
Philip 'Pip' Pirrip
Helena Bonham Carter
Miss Havisham
Ralph Fiennes
Abel Magwitch
Holliday Grainger
Estella Havisham
Robbie Coltrane
Mr. Jaggers
Sally Hawkins
Mrs. Joe
Jason Flemyng
Joe Gargery
Ewen Bremner
Wemmick
David Walliams
Mr. Pumblechook
Tamzin Outhwaite
Molly
Daniel Weyman
Arthur Havisham
Jessie Cave
Biddy
Edward Fleming
Charles Pocket
Olly Alexander
Herbert Pocket
Kate Lock
Camilla Pocket
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the fourth Great Expectations adaptation in 20 years. Helena Bonham Carter had already played Miss Havisham in a 1999 TV version, making her the only actor to tackle the role twice.
Newell specifically wanted Pip's London scenes to feel like a horror film, shooting narrow corridors and shadowed streets to suggest the city consuming him.
GB
