Great ExpectationsLiterary adaptations pepper the big and small screen schedules year after year and the works of Charles Dickens have proved fertile ground.

Recently selected as the closing film of the London Film Festival Mike Newell’s version of Great Expectations has a fine cast and from the looks of this first clip has a sumptuous visual style.

Jeremy Irvine stars here as Pip opposite Ralph Fiennes’ Magwitch, meeting again for the first time in years. Their relationship is key to the maturation of Pip and this clip gives us a hint of Irvine’s take on the character. As well as Fiennes and Irving we have Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham to look forward to, is it me or has the age of the actresses playing Miss Havisham nosedived  in recent years? Gillian Anderson played her in the mini-series last year and before then Joan Hickson played her at the age of 75. It’s a small point.

Here’s the clip and be warned there’s a nasty NSFW advert for REC3 which might play before the clip which is annoying and, like I said, not pretty.

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