# Great Expectations (2012 film)
**Great Expectations** is a 2012 drama film directed by Mike Newell, adapted by David Nicholls from [Charles Dickens](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-dickens)'s 1861 novel of the same name. It stars [Jeremy Irvine](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeremy-irvine) as Pip, Ralph Fiennes as the convict Magwitch, Helena Bonham Carter as [Miss Havisham](https://www.edgepedia.org/miss-havisham), and Holliday Grainger as the adult Estella, and it was released in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2012 through Lionsgate UK.[1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cfa91290-1192-5635-96e4-182f1d2304dd/great-expectations) The film closed the 56th BFI London Film Festival and was timed to conclude London's bicentenary celebrations of Charles Dickens's life and work.[3](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=CF1373AB-1F59-49DB-B18C-5A4A8EDDD8C7&doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / screenwriter | Mike Newell; screenplay by David Nicholls[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cfa91290-1192-5635-96e4-182f1d2304dd/great-expectations) |
| Producers | Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen, Emanuel Michael, David Faigenblum (Number 9 Films)[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cfa91290-1192-5635-96e4-182f1d2304dd/great-expectations) |
| Principal cast | Jeremy Irvine (Pip), Ralph Fiennes (Magwitch), Helena Bonham Carter (Miss Havisham), Holliday Grainger (Estella), Robbie Coltrane (Mr. Jaggers)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) |
| Running time / certificate | 128 minutes; rated 12A in the UK and PG-13 in the US[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cfa91290-1192-5635-96e4-182f1d2304dd/great-expectations) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) |
| UK release | 30 November 2012, distributed by Lionsgate UK; DVD on 25 March 2013[1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations) |
| Reception | 70% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 76 reviews; 50% from audiences[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) |
| US box office | $203.9K gross in the United States[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) |
| Recognition | BAFTA nomination for Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's costume design[1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations) |
## Spoilers
### Story and cast
The film follows Pip, a poor blacksmith's apprentice and orphan who comes into a fortune through an anonymous benefactor and moves through London's class-ridden world as a gentleman, pursuing Estella, the adopted daughter of the eccentric, jilted Miss Havisham.[5](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-great-expectations-2012-online) Frightened into aiding an escaped convict, Pip incurs the wrath of his abusive sister and guardian Mrs Joe ([Sally Hawkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/sally-hawkins)) and is sent to satisfy the whims of the immensely rich and grim Miss Havisham.[3](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=CF1373AB-1F59-49DB-B18C-5A4A8EDDD8C7&doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load)
**Casting.** Jeremy Irvine, fresh from the lead in [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s *War Horse* (2011), plays the adult Pip; his younger brother Toby Irvine plays Pip as a boy.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/what-larks-jeremy-irvine-great-expectations) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review) Helena Barlow plays the young Estella and [Holliday Grainger](https://www.edgepedia.org/holliday-grainger) the adult femme fatale.[3](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=CF1373AB-1F59-49DB-B18C-5A4A8EDDD8C7&doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review) The supporting cast includes [Robbie Coltrane](https://www.edgepedia.org/robbie-coltrane) as the lawyer Jaggers, Jason Flemyng as Joe Gargery, Ewen Bremner, David Walliams as Mr. Pumblechook, and Olly Alexander as Herbert Pocket.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/29/great-expectations-review) • [1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations)
Irvine said he accepted the role after reading Nicholls's script and knowing Newell would direct.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/what-larks-jeremy-irvine-great-expectations) He recalled that one of Newell's first questions to him was "why is Pip such a little shit?"; the film departs from earlier big-screen versions by not loading audience sympathy in Pip's favor, presenting him as an emotionally conflicted character in love with the idea of his new status.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/what-larks-jeremy-irvine-great-expectations)
## Adaptation
David Nicholls, the novelist and screenwriter known for *One Day* (2011), was asked to adapt the novel about five years before release by producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, whom he had worked with on *And When Did You Last See Your Father?*[9](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/16/adapting-great-expectations-david-nicholls) He noted the scale problem directly: the novel read aloud takes roughly 18 hours, while a commercial feature rarely runs past 120 minutes.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/16/adapting-great-expectations-david-nicholls) He also judged the book unusually adaptable by Dickens's standards, describing it as comparatively compact, with three acts, an inciting incident, and a crisis at the end of the second act, and he paid particular attention in the script to its love-story element.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/16/adapting-great-expectations-david-nicholls) Producer Karlsen gave a similar reason for the choice, calling the novel "among the easiest Dickens to adapt, having a simple tripartite structure, a strong narrative momentum with regular dramatic peaks, and fewer subplots and digressions than almost any of his other works".[10](https://repositorio.uam.es/bitstream/handle/10486/686792/martinez_alcaniz_violeta.pdf)
Newell said Nicholls's first draft needed only two or three further drafts and no major changes.[11](https://cw.filmeducation.org/screenings/previous_events/great_expectations/event_qa_transcript/) The film uses more of the novel than [David Lean](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-lean)'s celebrated 1946 version, which Lean had warned against, and it opts for an ambiguous ending rather than the upbeat conclusion Kay Walsh devised for the 1946 film.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review) Newell was open about borrowing from predecessors: "I watched them all. I stole from them... "I borrowed from David Lean, I borrowed from an excellent English filmmaker named Julian Jarrold [who had made a 1999 television adaptation], and I borrowed from [Alfonso Cuarón](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfonso-cuaron)." Proud to do it."[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/mike-newell-dickens-s-jekyll-hyde) One visible break with Lean is the opening graveyard encounter between Magwitch and young Pip, shot in broad, blue-sky daylight rather than the stylized gloom of 1946.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review)
## Production and locations
Newell described the project as a homecoming after Hollywood, following his $250 million *Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time* (2010), which he judged a failure of script. The film was shot in London and on the Kent marshes.[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/mike-newell-dickens-s-jekyll-hyde) Filming began on 10 October 2011.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836808/locations/)
Kent locations carried much of the story, a deliberate choice given Dickens's strong connections with the county. The isolated St Thomas A Beckett Church on Romney Marsh stood in for the first meeting between Pip and Magwitch; the Oare Marshes near Faversham housed the blacksmith's forge; Elmley Marshes, Stangate Creek, and the Thames and Medway Canal served the marshland scenes, including Magwitch's escape chase; and the Historic Dockyard at Chatham hosted the final warehouse scene with Pip and Herbert.[14](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/2012/12/great-expectations-2012/) Englefield House in [Berkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/berkshire) played Satis House, Miss Havisham's mansion.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836808/locations/)
The production was a Number 9 Films production made with BBC Films and the BFI Film Fund, in association with Unison Films, Lipsync Productions, and [HanWay Films](https://www.edgepedia.org/hanway-films), with Newell among the executive producers.[1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations) • [15](https://www.screendaily.com/great-expectations/5046436.article)
## Release and reception
The film premiered as the Closing Night Gala of the 56th [BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival) in October 2012 and opened in the UK on 30 November 2012.[3](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=CF1373AB-1F59-49DB-B18C-5A4A8EDDD8C7&doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load) • [1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations) It was released theatrically in the United States in 2013 through Main Street Films.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836808/companycredits/)
**Critical response.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 70% Tomatometer from 76 reviews and a 50% audience score; the site's critics consensus calls it "not the best version of the oft-filmed Dickens classic but far from the worst".[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* called it a watchable and accessible revival that gets the basics right, praising Jeremy Irvine as a likable Pip and [Helena Bonham Carter](https://www.edgepedia.org/helena-bonham-carter)'s "vampiric relish" as Miss Havisham, while judging it decent but slightly unadventurous.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/29/great-expectations-review) Philip French, also in *The Guardian*, praised it as handsomely designed, unobtrusively edited, and thoughtfully acted, moving "at quite a clip".[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review) The Los Angeles Times found it skillfully made and adeptly performed but adding little to the canon of Dickens films.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012)
Its commercial footprint in the United States was small, with a gross of $203.9K.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012) The film later received a BAFTA nomination for Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's costume design.[1](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations)
## Place among the adaptations
Dickens's novel has been filmed repeatedly, from silent versions in 1917 and 1922 and a 1934 US talkie through Lean's 1946 classic, a 1975 UK television version shown widely in cinemas, an Australian animated film in 1980, and Alfonso Cuarón's modern-dress 1998 adaptation set in late-20th-century New York.[17](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781408149027_A23938819/preview-9781408149027_A23938819.pdf) • [18](https://time.com/5883126/the-personal-history-of-david-copperfield-review/) Newell's version arrived in the Dickens bicentenary year of 2012, alongside a BBC television adaptation broadcast that same period, and it was the first cinematic translation since Lean's 1946 version according to at least one contemporary review.[14](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/2012/12/great-expectations-2012/) • [19](https://www.indielondon.co.uk/Film-Review/great-expectations-2012-review/) Newell himself framed the question of repetition in theatrical terms: "how many times are you prepared to go and see *Hamlet*?"[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/mike-newell-dickens-s-jekyll-hyde)
## References
1. [Great Expectations, BBC Films film page](https://bbcinsight.pages.dev/bbcfilm/films/great-expectations)
2. [Great Expectations (2012), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cfa91290-1192-5635-96e4-182f1d2304dd/great-expectations)
3. [Great Expectations, Closing Night Gala, 56th BFI London Film Festival](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=CF1373AB-1F59-49DB-B18C-5A4A8EDDD8C7&doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load)
4. [Great Expectations (2012), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_expectations_2012)
5. [Watch Great Expectations online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-great-expectations-2012-online)
6. [What larks! – Jeremy Irvine on Great Expectations, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/what-larks-jeremy-irvine-great-expectations)
7. [Philip French, "Great Expectations – review", The Guardian/Observer, 2 December 2012](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/02/great-expectations-review)
8. [Peter Bradshaw, "Great Expectations – review", The Guardian, 29 November 2012](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/29/great-expectations-review)
9. [David Nicholls, "Adapting Great Expectations for the screen", The Guardian, 16 November 2012](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/16/adapting-great-expectations-david-nicholls)
10. [Violeta Martínez Alcáñiz, "Great Expectations (2012): Dickens becomes a blockbuster", Universidad Autónoma de Madrid](https://repositorio.uam.es/bitstream/handle/10486/686792/martinez_alcaniz_violeta.pdf)
11. [Great Expectations event Q&A transcript, Film Education](https://cw.filmeducation.org/screenings/previous_events/great_expectations/event_qa_transcript/)
12. [Mike Newell: 'This is Dickens's Jekyll & Hyde', BFI, 27 November 2012](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/mike-newell-dickens-s-jekyll-hyde)
13. [Great Expectations (2012) filming and production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836808/locations/)
14. [Great Expectations (2012), Kent Film Office, 20 December 2012](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/2012/12/great-expectations-2012/)
15. [Great Expectations review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/great-expectations/5046436.article)
16. [Great Expectations (2012) company credits, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1836808/companycredits/)
17. [Screen Adaptations: Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, preview](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781408149027_A23938819/preview-9781408149027_A23938819.pdf)
18. [Dev Patel Is a Dickensian Hero for All in The Personal History of David Copperfield, Time](https://time.com/5883126/the-personal-history-of-david-copperfield-review/)
19. [Great Expectations (2012) review, IndieLondon](https://www.indielondon.co.uk/Film-Review/great-expectations-2012-review/)
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