The latest screen adaption of the classic Charles Dickens novel is lent an air of gravitas with legendary director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco) at the helm, and high caliber British ensemble cast.
Pip (Jeremy Irvine), an orphan, being brought up in relative poverty by his sadistic sister (Sally Hawkins) and her long suffering husband (Jason Flemying), looks destined to follow his brother-in-law’s footsteps as a blacksmith’s apprentice, until he encounters an escaped convict.
Aiding the convict under duress, Pip incurs the wrath of his abusive sister for stealing a pie and is sent to the infamously reclusive Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter), to be the playmate of her adoptive daughter, the beautiful but heartless Estella (Holliday Grainger). This short-lived interlude leaves Pip captivated by the alluring Estella and with a newly-acquired taste for grander things. But it is not until years later that Pip can re-enter this world at the hands of a mysterious benefactor.
Newell’s adaptation is visually dramatic with high production values, that capture the beautiful desolation of the Kentish marshes contrasting with the stench and filth of 19th century London. Irvine and Grainger are strong as the class crossed lovers, but it is Bonham Carter’s melancholic Miss Havisham and Fiennes’ brutal Magwitch that steal the show.
