THE AISLE SEAT - "GREAT EXPECTATIONS"
by Mike McGranaghan
More than anything, Great Expectations is about memories. Most movie characters seem to know only the things that happen during the course of the film they are in. By contrast, the characters in Great Expectations have vivid memories; recollections of days gone by seem to live and breathe in their minds. In a voice-over narration, the main character says: "I'm not going to tell this story the way it happened; I'm going to tell it the way I remember it."
The film is very loosely based on the novel by Charles Dickens. In case anyone doubts that this is a contemporary update, the filmmakers have an escaped murderer named Lustig (Robert DeNiro) threaten to pull a young boy's guts out in the opening scene. The boy is Finn, a young Florida lad who likes to sit by the sea and draw in his book. He helps the convict hide from police, although he isn't quite sure why he is doing this.
Later, Finn is invited to the home of Ms. Nora Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft), a rich eccentric who pairs him up for dance lessons with her niece Estella. "She will only hurt you," the old lady tells the boy, "but you will still pursue her." Estella, you see, is a beautiful young girl, but she's been taught to manipulate and distrust men. For a kid, she's remarkably snobbish, but Finn finds himself compelled by her.
Cut to years later, when the teenage Finn (Ethan Hawke) still pines for Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow). She leads him on with the promise of sex, then backs away at the last minute. The next day, she's gone off to boarding school in another country. Finn gives up on life for a long time, but - as a young man - he is visited by a lawyer who makes a surprising announcement: an anonymous benefactor has offered to send Finn to New York to become an artist - all expenses paid. In New York, he meets up with Estella again. She's engaged, but their flirtations continue. Gradually, she becomes Finn's muse, although she still continues to torment him.
Other things transpire as the film goes on, but that's the basic set-up. Great Expectations is not so much a plot-driven movie as an exercise in tone and atmosphere. The characters in this movie are slaves to their own memories. The people in Finn's past are fodder for his artwork, as is his continual obsession with Estella. She, meanwhile, has so many memories of Dinsmoor's teachings that it's become impossible to have a healthy relationship. The way she pits her fiancee (Hank Azaria) against Finn is as cruel as it is subtle. Even Lustig reminisces about the past, which leads to an intriguing revelation near the film's end. The screenplay by Mitch Glazer suggests that the people, places, and things we can't let go of will haunt us forever, sending us on paths we can't imagine, influencing us in ways we may never be conscious of.
As directed by Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess), Great Expectations has a haunting, ethereal style, much the same way our own memories have. He wrings a lot of different emotions out of the material but never makes them too overt; the film is intentionally hazy in its depictions. For example, Finn and Estella share an erotic afternoon as he paints her nude. The scene is undeniably sexy, yet the coldness she shows him is so definite in later scenes that the eroticism seems almost like a dream to him. Was it really a moment of sexual awakening, or is that just the way Finn remembers it? With its free-floating feel, the film is a masterpiece of tone.
The performances are at just the right pitch, too. Ethan Hawke, who has always been an impressive actor, is outstanding as the tortured artist. Without overacting or chewing scenery, he makes Finn's yearning palpable for the audience. As Estella, Gwyneth Paltrow is icy-cold perfection. Although her character turns her sexuality on and off like a light switch, Paltrow creates some bottom-line sympathy. Estella is manipulative not because she's a bad person, but because she doesn't know how to be anything else.
The final half hour of Great Expectations has a few moments that falter, and on the whole I felt the movie should have been longer. There are elements to the story that occasionally feel rushed. Still, I was undeniably affected by the film and its ideas. Great Expectations is entertaining, but also surprising in its truthfulness about how our actions are unavoidably influenced by our memories.
(
out of four)
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