Competition film Great Expectations： An Disillusionment in the Adaptation of Famous Works

The 2012 edition of Great Expectations is conservative and traditional.

　　　 Movie network news Compared with the dazzling skills, exaggeration and excessive changes in the adaptation of famous works in recent years, the 2012 editionGreat expectationsAppearing conservative and traditional, director mike newell shows the growth track of the protagonist Pip step by step according to the chronological order of the original works. However, it is an impossible task to include a literary masterpiece, especially an epic about growth and changes of the times, with the duration of a film. Expect again and again, but always get disappointed again and again. Perhaps, just as the upper class is to Pip, it is just an illusory dream to adapt the film without seeking transcendence but reaching the original.

　　　 Director Mike must have thought that all the audience had seen the original work, so he only chose a few important paragraphs, which also made the rhythm of the film very out of step, and the personality change and complicated relationship between the characters could not be explained clearly, leaving regrets. Pip’s way of growing up is actually to know love, money, class, humanity and redemption step by step. It is Dickens’ interpretation of all this, but every part of the story in the movie is missing something, and it is over before the climax, leaving only us off the screen, with an empty sense of nothingness to the subtitles. In the movie, Pip had an instant epiphany in the face of life changes and spiritual shocks, which saved all the entanglements and struggles, which made the embarrassment of being ridiculed, the pain of losing loved ones and the repentance of starting over not enough to touch people’s hearts and lose the power of the original text.

　　　 The swamp where the story begins and the countryside in Kent are quiet and beautiful, but the protagonist Pip’s shortness of breath and footsteps seem so uncoordinated. The sudden jump out of the prisoners hiding in the cemetery breaks this tranquility and changes Pip’s life from now on. Especially when I think back after I know the ending, I hope that time will pass slowly and then slowly. Even if I have a poor life and my sister’s beating and scolding, at least I have enough food and clothing and my brother-in-law’s protection. Just at that time, Pip didn’t know ordinary happiness. In front of the arrogant and beautiful noble lady, he just wanted to get into the upper class and exchange his "great future" for his sweetheart’s favor, but he didn’t know that such a future ruined his life. In his "ideal life", the narrow old streets of London make people feel bad, and the camera is aimed at the dirty mess in Little Britain. The so-called "great expectations" are also concentrated in exquisite and exaggerated aristocratic costumes and seemingly boring parties in the upper class. This irony should have been the protagonist’s experience after many experiences, but it is too superficial and deliberate in front of the camera.

　　　 Dickens wrote two endings for Great Expectations, which were originally gloomy and sad, but under the pressure of the publishing house, there was another happy ending as described in the film. The audience who like romantic love may applaud and believe that this is true love, but this love with too many impurities is hard to impress everyone. Director Mike and screenwriter david nicholls’s choice of ending is also doomed to lose the recognition of some audiences.

　　　 Fortunately, the restoration of the key points of the original, the exquisite dialogue, the retro British accent and the street view with a sense of the times, as well as the performances of Ralph Fiennes and helena carter, are enough to make this film qualify as a tribute to Dickens. In particular, Pip’s confession to Estella is a classic, which makes the listeners all moved. Ralph Fiennes’s appearance is not much, but it is one of the hidden main lines, and it is also the mainstay of this tome. Helena carter imitates tim burton’s "Corpse Bride" and the defeated "Queen of Spades". Although she occasionally feels a little jumpy, she still vividly displays the pale, thin, mysterious and weird image of a bad woman. Herbert, Pip’s good friend, is extremely dramatic in many supporting roles, even more vivid and lovely than Pip. No matter when he appeared as a child or grew up, he always brought people happy laughter, which also made the depressed story have a glimmer of light.