First reaction. Oh dear god.....Steve knight wrote the screenplay of our most quintessential wordsmith using the 'F' word !! And I so wanted to hate it. But then I started to analyse what was going on. Dickens is most recognised for his amazing characters so how do you get a modern audience to understand the nuances of why they were as they were. We are meant to loathe Pips sister sara but simple meaness would have done it for a Victorian reader but not now. So knight depicts her as a sleazy dominatrix. Well NOW I hate her. Jaggers has been shown as a pure evil Machiavellian. His arrogance and strutting gait is a perfection of acting (Bravo Mr. Ashley Thomas) The modern audience can revel in the mental illness of Olivia Colemans Miss Haversham as Knight explains her prison of the mind created by the use and misuse of a Victorian woman as chattel. Financially buoyed on a background of slave ownership. Tom sweets expressions of fright, fear, apprehension and dread are so much more entertaining than the simplistic terror of other performances.
The cinematography is delicious, the acting is stunning and the new layers in between the plot and characters are a joy to watch. Ok Mr. Knight ........you are forgiven.
The cinematography is delicious, the acting is stunning and the new layers in between the plot and characters are a joy to watch. Ok Mr. Knight ........you are forgiven.