# Great Expectations (1998)

### reviewed by
Chris Loar

    Great Expectations

    Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Starring Ethan Hawke (Finnegan Bell), Gwyneth Paltrow (Estella), Hank Azaria (Walter Plane), Chris Cooper (Joe), Anne Bancroft (Ms. Dinsmoor), Robert De Niro (Lustig)

Sympathetic press to the contrary notwithstanding, this film is really just awful -- not merely flawed, but a really lousy piece of filmmaking. Its awfulness is made all the worse because it feels slightly smug, as though it thinks it's important, artsy -- an achievement. And that's a serious problem, because with this sense of its own importance, it brings in all sorts of art film baggage to call attention to itself -- expressionist lighting, slow, laborious dialogue, overacting. it leaves us with a mess that's really only watchable because of its absurdity; one can sit back and admire the scenery (and there is some lovely scenery) without feeling the pressure of having a real cinematic experience.

The story is, of course, loosely based on the novel by Charles Dickens. Like the novel, it opens with an initially frightening encounter between an impoverished child (Finnegan Bell, played here by Jeremy James Kissner) and an escaped criminal, Lustig (Robert De Niro). Finn is an orphan, and lives with his sister and her husband in a squalid little town in Florida -- but he has dreams of being an important artist one day. He is accosted by Lustig one afternoon while he's sitting in a small rowboat in the bay, drawing pictures of birds and fish. Lustig emerges abruptly from underwater and induces Finn to fetch him some bolt cutters and food. Finn does as he's asked, and what's more, he distinguishes himself by bringing along some whiskey. Finn also goes above and beyond the call a bit later; as he tries to help Lustig escape, his boat is accosted by a police boat. Lustig abandons ship -- and Finn, instead of simply fleeing with the police, tosses the escapee a life jacket. De Niro is fairly effective in this sequence (though it's hardly outstanding work), and Kissner makes a fair showing; so far so good.

Things go downhill fairly quickly, however, when we move to the next sequence -- young Finn's first encounter with Estella (Raquel Beaudene) and her crazed but affluent guardian, Miss Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft). Estella and Miss Dinsmoor live in a decrepit old mansion by themselves; Finn meets Estella while his own guardian is doing some sort of delivery there. Estella seems to take a reluctant interest in Finn at first glance -- leading Miss Dinsmoor to invite him to visit on a weekly basis, which he does for many, many years. The visuals in this sequence are striking -- both the exterior and the interior of Miss Dinsmoor's mansion are lavishly created and well-filmed, which makes the dramatic flaccidly of these scenes stand out all the more. The weak link here is Bancroft's performance, which is outlandish and laughable rather than sinister, which seems to be what Cuaron was shooting for. She prances about to various versions of "Besame Mucho," occasionally muttering things like "shika-boom" and fondling young Finn in a rather suggestive way. She also finds time to issue a warning to Finn: "Don't fall for her. She'll only hurt you."

Unfortunately for him and for us, Finn doesn't seem to listen, so we get another 90 minutes or so of what is, more or less, a love story. We jump ahead a few years to watch Finn as a young man (a slack-jawed Ethan Hawke) get teased, then summarily dumped by Estella (an icy Gwyneth Paltrow). Finn is heartbroken, and gives up on his dreams -- of becoming an artist, and of ever escaping the poverty of his community. He stays there, learning to accept his fate, when a lawyer appears on his doorstep, offering him a ticket to the New York, art world -- money and a gallery show, a gift from an anonymous donor. Finn accepts what he assumes is Miss Dinsmoor's generosity and heads north, where he finds a receptive audience for his work. He also finds Estella, on the cusp of an engagement; he manages to seduce her, but the seduction doesn't take, and she again moves out of his life. I won't reveal the ending here, in case there's someone out there who didn't have to read the Dickens novel in high school; suffice it to say, everything wraps itself up in a rather Dickinsian way.

Throughout it all, we're subjected to acting that ranges from ridiculously overdone (Bancroft) to unreadably passive (Paltrow) to aimless (Hawke). Hawke and Paltrow, both fairly sexy commodities in their own right, don't really seem to turn each other on; they never manage to work up any credible chemistry. The script is bland and directionless. In the end, all we're really left with are some fine visuals by Emmanuel Lubezki (known for his work in _Like Water for Chocolate_ and _A Walk in the Clouds) and some impressive artwork by Francesco Clemente (who creates all the work attributed to Finn). These are no small pleasures, and if you're in the mood for a purely visual experience, this film does have something to offer you. I'd recommend bringing along your Sony Discman and a pair of headphones, though.

    (C) 1998 Chris Loar

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