Why so few?


Why have so few people seen this? It's a great 'film', TV adaptation, whatever you want to call it!

Johnny kick a hole in the sky

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

It's a great film, but the ending is disappointing. I know they want to make it like the cliffhanger ending that Dickens wrote, but to me it's totally obvious as to what happens: Pip and Estella end up together. I mean, it's practically written in the last line "I saw no shadow of another part from her". Come on, that's got the 19th century "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" written all over it!

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

Yes, I agree with you about the ending. Dickens did NOT want Estella and Pip to be together and actually had written a diffrent ending about Joe having a son whom he named Pip and Estella marrying a dentist (or was it doctor...) But I think this ending is a lot better. They are friends. I mean, most people would predict a happy romantic ending but that's just not Dickens.

reply

See, I felt kind of the opposite. All through the movie I liked it, but wasn't sure if I really loved it or not. It was great acting, I always love watching Ioan Gruffudd and Justine Waddell, Clive Russell was heartbreaking as Joe, etc. But I had never really cared for the book, mostly because I really don't care for Dickens' portrayals of women and I have other issues with him as well (his long-windedness being a main point). And the character of Estella never really made sense to me the way he wrote her. Yes, Miss Havisham tried to "poison" her against men when she was young, but she was only with Havisham for a few years, and then Estella was away from her for the next 8-10 years during her teenage years. Why wouldn't Estella grow away from that influence and be capable of love? So I really started liking the idea of the kinder, less bitter and cold version of Estella as Waddell played her. But it was the ending that finally sold me on the film, starting with the kiss ( I'm such a girl sometimes). It wasn't even that I was imagining them or wanting them to be all happily married in the future. But I just loved that Pip and Estella finally became friends and liked the idea of them playing cards every evening, teasing each other and generally getting to enjoy life together after their heartaches... So even if there's no marriage for them (and marriage probably would have been out of the question, what with divorce laws being so severe back then, and there being a stigma against divorced or remarried women), just the idea that they'd still get to be happy in each other's company is one that I really like.

Then there was a star danced and under that was I born.

reply

[deleted]

Well they certainly didn't let on what would happen, but I lean towards the friends likelihood with possibilities for something more.

reply

I don't think the closing line of the book -- "I saw no shadow of another parting from her" -- proves that Pip and Estella got together in the end. Remember, just before that she has stated that they will be "friends apart." You have to remember that that last line was from Pip's POV, and as with any first person narrator, he can be unreliable at times. Yes, it DOES point towards an eventual union, but in the end it's ambiguous.

reply