While the Charles Dickens novel has been adapted many times, Great Expectations (2012) is probably my favorite…Â for the costumes. We’ve confessed before that we don’t get too excited about Dickens. His stories tend to focus on men, they tend to be dark and sad, and they tend to be set in his era, which, as we have previously established, was the death of fashion. So I probably prefer this adaptation of the 1860-61 novel best because the costumes are more from the late 1820s and early 1830s, with some throwbacks to my beloved 18th century. Sure, designer Beatrix Aruna Pasztor (The Secret of Moonacre, Woman in Gold, Holmes & Watson) seems to have cribbed from her previous work on Vanity Fair (2004). But at least that means there were interesting things to look at!
The film stars Ralph Fiennes (Magwitch), Helena Bonham Carter (Miss Havisham), Jeremy Irvine (Pip), and Holliday Grainger (Estella), and also features Sally Hawkins and Sophie Rundle. It was directed by Mike Newell (Enchanted April, Mona Lisa Smile, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society). I should note that hair (which I LOVED) and makeup was designed by Jenny Shircore (Elizabeth, Girl With a Pearl Earring, that same Vanity Fair, Amazing Grace, The Young Victoria, Mary Queen of Scots, Firebrand, and MANY more).
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