Great Expectations 2012 film Review

This 2012 film adaptation of Great Expectations, directed by Mike Newell, did not quite live up to my expectations. I felt that some of the scenes felt very staged and I felt that Sally Hawkins, playing Mrs Joe Gargery, fell flat with her unrealistic acting skills. However I did think that many of the characters, physically, were very fitting to the original book. After watching the 2011 BBC series of Great Expectations, I didn’t feel that including the character Biddy was necessary and I felt it took up valuable film time that could have been put towards some of the other scenes where I think the emotion was slightly cut short. 

I think that this is my favourite Miss Havisham portrayal of all the others I have seen as she looks a lot closer to my one portrayal than any others and I think she looked the most true to her description in the original book. I think that the veil and dress fit perfectly with Charles Dickens’ description and also the victorian setting. I really like that her hair looked like it was naturally going grey and that she looked like she was withering away and frail,  with the natural looking makeup making her look more hollowed out and tired. However, if I could make an improvement, it would be that Miss Havisham didn’t sound frail and weak enough for how she is described. I think Holliday Grainger brought the perfect amount of beauty and class to Estella and, apart from her hair not being brown as it was described in the original book, I think she fitted her description very accurately. I love how she had a soft, angelic feel about her, making it more clear how Pip could be drawn in. I really liked that Jeremy Irvine, playing Pip, brought a ruggedness to the character because it was more believable that he had come from a rougher background than in some other film adaptations. 

Overall, I think the characters in this film adaptation kept very true to the book's descriptions of them, however I think I think I would have been more emotionally invested in the film, if I felt the characters were real and not as ‘put on’.