Great Expectations "Ain't Love Grand" Scene

Great Expectations is a 1998 American romantic drama film. A contemporary film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name, co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft and Chris Cooper. It is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York. The film is an abridged modernization of Dickens's 1861 novel, with the hero's name having been changed from Pip to Finn, and the characters of Miss Havisham having been renamed Nora Dinsmoor and Abel Magwitch being renamed to Arthur Lustig. The film received mixed reviews.

Ten-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell, an orphan being raised by his elder sister Maggie and her boyfriend Joe, is overpowered by an escaped convict while playing on a beach on the Gulf Coast. Finn brings him food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg, and is taken hostage. The convict tries to escape to Mexico but the police seize his small boat. The convict hides on a buoy and the police tow Finn back to land. Finn sees on the news that the now recaptured convict was mobster Arthur Lustig who had escaped from death row.

Joe is called to do gardening at "Paradiso Perduto" ("Lost Paradise" in Italian), the mansion of the richest woman in Florida, Nora Dinsmoor, who has lived as a recluse since her fiancé left her at the altar years before. Finn accompanies Joe and encounters Dinsmoor's young niece, the beautiful Estella. Dinsmoor invites Finn to come back and play with Estella. She behaves haughtily on Finn's first visit, but her aunt forces her to sit for an impromptu portrait by Finn. Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken.

Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto every Saturday and develops into a talented painter. Although Estella is at times flirtatious, even attempting to seduce Finn at one point, she leaves to study in Europe without telling him. Heartbroken, Finn gives up painting and his visits to Paradiso Perduto.

Seven years later, a lawyer tells Finn that a gallery owner in New York City wants to show his work. Finn is perplexed but agrees to go. There he encounters Estella in the park. She is in a relationship with a wealthy businessman, Walter. She resumes her flirtatious behavior towards Finn, posing nude in his apartment and arousing Walter's jealousy.

Eventually Finn, frustrated by Estella's evasiveness, lures her away from Walter and the two have sex. She tells him she is going to visit her aunt briefly, but will be back for the opening of Finn's show. But on opening night she fails to show up. But Uncle Joe does, and inadvertently embarrasses Finn with his crudeness. Finn goes to Estella's abode in New York, hoping to find her, but instead finds Ms. Dinsmoor, who reveals that she came to New York to attend Estella's wedding to Walter, which upsets Finn. She then tells him that Estella was using him to make Walter jealous and convince him to marry her. When she realizes how seriously she has upset him, she is remorseful and apologizes for her manipulation, but it is too late.

Back at his studio, Finn finds a strange bearded man wanting to see him. It is Arthur Lustig! Finn is first incredulous, then uncomfortable with his presence. As Lustig leaves, his comments make Finn realize that he, not the wealthy Ms. Dinsmoor, has in fact been Finn's benefactor during Finn's entire time in New York. Finn goes with him to the subway station.

Waiting for a train, Lustig sees three unsavory acquaintances on the opposite platform. Finn and Lustig outmaneuver them and get on a train. They think they are safe, but one of them comes through the car and brutally stabs Lustig. As he bleeds to death in Finn's arms, he reveals that he has been Finn's benefactor in return for the kindness Finn showed him as a child.

Devastated, Finn drops everything, goes to Paris to study art, and becomes successful. He returns to Florida to visit his Uncle Joe. Ms. Dinsmoor has died, but he visits her house anyway. Sitting in the garden, he thinks he sees an apparition of Estella as a child. Following the little girl through to the back dock, he finds her mother, who turns out to be Estella, now divorced. She admits she has often thought of him, and asks him to forgive her, which he does. They hold hands looking out over the sea.

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