Great Expectations that are unfulfilled

By Ervell E. Menezes

THE trend of adapting English novels to American conditions seems to be continuing. First it was Jane Austen’s Sense and sensibility and Emma. Now they’ve taken Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations (almost immortalised by David Lean in 1946) and really mauled it. Poor old Dickens, he must be turning in his grave.

Actually one gets to know of the shape of things to follow when in the opening lines the narrator says "I’m not going to tell the story the way it happened. I’m going to tell it the way I remembered it." Don’t we know that memory can play strange tricks? It is the Americanisation of Dickens.

For starters, Anne Bancroft (as Ms Dinsmoor, not Miss Havisham in the Dickens novel) takes the hand of 10-year-old Finnegan Bell (Jeremy James Kissner) and places it on her breast. "What is this?" she asks.

"A boob", Finn replies.

"No, it’s a heart, a broken heart," she replies and we all know how the old dame was let down at the altar on her wedding day and has hence vowed vengeance on all men. She even tutors her niece Estella (Raquel Beaudene) to break hearts.

But one also remembers Anne Bancroft as the seductress who gives Dustin Hoffman a few lessons in love in The Graduate and you keep wondering whether it is a repeat performance with someone younger? But she proves quite harmless. In fact her dancing to the music of Besame Mucho gives the film a promise it never really fulfils.

I remember reading the novel decades ago. Estella is the very epitome of seduction — the eternal temptress. The drinking water sequence in which the young girl takes the lead and plants a kiss on the boy’s lips is well done. It is repeated when the sexy Gwyneth Partlow does the same to Ethan Hawke (they are now grown up) in New York.

That Finn later becomes an artist, thanks to the helping hand of the convict Lustig (Robert De Niro) is academic. Realism is forsaken for make-believe but Estella never really assumes the proportions she does in Charles Dickens’ novel. She remains one-dimensional and this is the biggest drawback of the film.

Stephen Farber has this to say about Great Expectations in Premiers in the July edition of Movieline:

"Just as (Peter) Weir acknowledged the influence of another innovator, Nicholas Roeg, when he was starting out, some of the most interesting young directors at work today are following in Weir’s footsteps and renouncing realism in favour of a more sweepingly lyrical mode of filmmaking. For example, Alfonso Cuaron showed his gift for impredictable flights of fancy in both Little Princess and Great Expectations..."

I don’t agree. Peter Weir’s earlier films The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock, both, deal with the hereafter. In subjects of this nature, flights of fancy are not out of place.

But in a straight forward narrative such as Great Expectations they are. The shift of locale from England to Florida in the USA is okay.

Even making him grow up in a fisherman’s family with the warm uncle Joe (Chris Cooper) is fine.

The casting of Gwyneth Partlow as Estella who plays the lead role in Emma (not released in India yet) could also be okay. However, it is the treatment of the character that is quite wrong. She is never really the seductress. Instead she is patchy, even bitchy, but always out of her metier.

For this flaw, scriptwriter Mitch Glazer and director Alfonso Cuaron must take the rap. Take Little Women, a charming novel of a family struggling against poverty written so touchingly by Louisa M. Alcott. It has been turned into a beautiful film by Gillian Armstrong.

There is probably enough of good American literature waiting to be turned into cinema, why cross the Atlantic for subjects and then ruin them beyond recognition?

Finn’s encounters in New York never really assume any realistic proportions. Try as Ethan Hawke may, his head is always in the air.

The scene in which Gwyneth Partlow strips for the artist to paint her is typically American and may be the nadir of sexuality but sexuality itself is quite out of place in Dicken’s novel. The accent is on seduction.

Take the fiance Walter Plane (Hank Azaria) and he is just one in a crowd. He never interacts in the supposed love triangle. Nor does Finn show the anguish he is supposed to feel.

That the film is brilliantly shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki only drives home the point that the visuals are not matched by the content. It is a cerebral film and "I’m going to tell the story as I remembered it" does not absolve it of its crimes and misdemeanours.

An actor of the talent of Robert De Niro seems to be totally wasted as the convict Lustig. His opening bit is far too scary for comfort but then it is forgiveable. The young Finn is frightened out of his wits by the convict but his New York sequence could have been better handled. In fact the Estella-Finn liaison in New York is more of a joke than a revival of a childhood fantasy.

It is doomed to disaster. It is a story of unrequited love and Ms Dinsmoor is supposed to be the very incarnation of the bitter woman who passes on this bitterness to her niece. But all this is well glossed over. There is no angst whatsoever. In fact, Finn appears to be a willing partner in his story of unrequited love.

The very soul of the novel is missing, sacrificed at the altar of experimentation. Sad, very sad indeed.

Paying the price of being Dharmendra's son

By Asha Singh

BOBBY DEOL could never have it easy in films. Despite his handsome Italian looks, a supportive family and friendly media, he has not been able to produce a single hit so far.

"This is what happens when you are a son of Dharmendra and brother of Sunny Deol," says the junior Deol. "Public expectations are so high that you need to excel every time."

Bobby had stardom thrust upon him even before he made his debut in the family launch vehicle, Barssat with another star kid, Twinkle Khanna. It was biggest box-office disaster of 1994.

Then came Gupt and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya. Considering all the hype, they also turned out duds. Gupt could not even rake in the initials while Aur Pyar Ho Gaya went the Barsaat way a week after release.

Says Bobby in right earnest: "Whatever else my films were or weren’t, they have definitely not been the same — Barsaat was a romance with a bit of action thrown in, Gupt was a thriller and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya was a soft, pudding and cream romance.

"Kareeb is a love story too, but it’s closer to life, as the name suggests, and the element of realism makes it even more appealing. What more, I am evolving as an actor."

He points out that he is less self-conscious before the camera and has been able to shed many of his inhibitions working with Chopra. "He is not only a good director, but a hard taskmaster," says Bobby.

Incidentally, Vinod had approached Bobby for playing the lead in 1942: A Love Story opposite Manisha Koirala five years ago. At that time he was already committed to the in-house production, Barsaat and had to give the opportunity a miss.

"So when Vinod approached me for Kareeb, I grabbed it with both hands," he narrates. "It is a good film. The songs are melodious and the picturisation is of international class."

In Kareeb, Bobby plays Birju, a prankster who is reluctant to shoulder any responsibility. "He is a big liar too. But one lie suddenly changes everything and everybody, including his own family, which turns against him." Major portions of the film were shot at Rewalsar near Mandi, Shimla and Parashar Lake in Himachal Pradesh. The effect on screen, of these locales, is much like the Swiss Alps, he points out. But does he prefer to shoot abroad ?

"On the contrary I get terribly homesick," he replies. "For Barsaat we had a shoot in Italy for the fight scenes involving a tiger. In Italy they have trained tigers and do not stitch up their mouths.

"For Aur Pyar Ho Gaya, the story demanded we shoot in Switzerland and Singapore, and it’s been one of my longest schedules abroad — I had to stay away from home for 50 days.

"Again we had to shoot in Australia for Soldier (being directed by Abbas-Mastan) and in the UK for London, because again, the stories are woven around these places."

London is very special because it is being directed by brother Sunny and like Barsaat, it is a home production. A small portion of the film remains to be shot in London this August.

Bobby is also working with Kundan Shah in Hum To Mohabbat Karenge opposite Karishma Kapoor — the actress who was originally paired with him in Barsaat and London.

"She had to opt out because of date problems," he explains on Karisma Kapoor’s behalf. "But we do not hold any grudges against her. The audience would like us as a pair in Hum To Mohabbat Karenge." (M.F.)