Great Expectations (1998) - 35 mistakes

Continuity: In most shots in the hotel room the houses you can see through the windows are quite far away, like across a wide street. Only in one shot, when Estella stands nude in front of the window, there is suddenly a window only a few meters away, through which one can see an Indian woman with her daughter, surprisingly unaware of the naked Estella.

Plot hole: At the beginning of the film Lustig suddenly emerges from the water right in front of Finn. It's not possible that he could have been hiding in the shallow water without Finn noticing him.

Factual error: Hawke rides the subway twice during the film. Both times Hawke takes the "G" train. Unfortunately the G doesn't go through Manhattan where he is, it only goes through Brooklyn and Queens.

Continuity: After looking at her portrait Estella folds it up and puts both ends in one hand not to have to look at it any more. When she gets up she is holding it with both hands again.

Plot hole: How on earth did Lustig's killer get on the subway, when the three guys who were after him couldn't?

Continuity: When the drunken Finn is shouting in front of Mrs. Dinsmoor's NY house he is holding a full liquor bottle in the left hand, then he empties it out, holding in his right hand, and finally he throws away a miraculously refilled bottle with his left hand again.

Continuity: When Mrs. Dinsmoor leaves the terrace the glass of wine which she had just emptied is almost full again.

Continuity: When Finn comes back with Estella to draw her portrait Mrs. Dinsmoor's sofa is rearranged: e.g. a table with flowers is gone, the blanket covers the whole backrest now, and a stool is placed in front as a support for Finn's drawing.

Revealing: When Finn draws a fish at the beginning of the film you see a dent already in the paper at the spot where he draws the eye.

Continuity: At the beginning of the movie Finn is drawing standing in shallow water. He is holding his pen right at the tip, however, a close-up of his drawing shows a long part of the pen but no fingers holding it.

Continuity: In the beginning of the scene when Estella comes to Finn's hotel room some strands of her hair, which were hanging in front of her face, get tucked behind her ears, while she is sitting on the bed with her hands down.

Visible crew/equipment: When Estella and Finn kiss each other at Finn's place there is a mike in front of Finn's head (upper left corner).

Continuity: At the beginning of the movie, before Finn leaves the boat, he picks a pen from a box. In the next shot he is holding his scrapbook in the same way he was holding the pen box before.

Continuity: In the scene where Finn paints Estella's portrait Mrs. Dinsmoor puts down the same empty glass twice.

Continuity: Mrs. Dinsmoor doesn't visibly age over a time span of about 15 years.

Continuity: Lustig's murderer enters the subway car through the connecting door. After the stabbing he runs back and tries to leave through an exit next to this door. However, in the previous shots Lustig and Finn were standing right at that exit, which means that the stabbing shot was taken at a different spot than where the two protagonists were shown before, i.e. it was taken farther away from the connecting door.

Continuity: When Finn grabs a painting board to frantically start painting the nude Estella there is no paper clipped on. A few shots later there is paper, which should have been visible also from the perspective of the earlier shot.

Continuity: After drinking from the fountain together with Finn, Estella goes up the stairs. In the next shot Finn is shown looking after her, camera pointing from the top of the stairs. These stairs have a straight landing, in contrast to the ones Estella went up.

Continuity: On the shed where Joe parks his car after on his return from Mrs. Dinsmoor's place there's a sign "Joe Coleman Handyman" and a covering net which weren't there when when Finn came home after his encounter with Lustig.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film when Finn meets Lustig again at night he gives him a bottle of whiskey. Lustig takes long gulps and pours loads of whiskey over his injured ankle, but the bottle stays full throughout the scene.

Continuity: When Finn is being picked up by the police boat alternating shots show a buoy (which had a helpful sudden entrance as a hiding place for Lustig) either in front or at the side of his motionless boat.

Continuity: When Finn goes back home in his boat after his first encounter with Lustig his clothes, which had been drenched before, are completely dry.

Plot hole: Before Lustig dies he gives back Finn's scrapbook that got lost during their first encounter. In that scene there is no evidence that Lustig gets hold of the book, and the only explanation would be that Lustig picked up the stranded scrapbook later. This looks quite far-fetched to me, especially since Lustig was hiding in the dunes, and the scrapbook looked way to good to have spent a long time in the water.

Continuity: When Lustig comes to Finn's appartment he reveals his identity by replaying the scene in the water, when they first met. Right next to Finn's head you see a decorative mobile with vigorously swinging birds. In all other shots the mobile is completely motionless and in quite a distance from the spot where this conversation takes place.

Continuity: When Estella gets dressed after being painted in the hotel room, she doesn't put her bra back on. On the other hand, when she puts on her sexy panties she pulls it over another pair of long black underpants that she didn't wear when she came.

Continuity: The piece of wallpaper Mrs. Dinsmoor pulls off the wall for Finn to draw on is perfectly rectangular, in contrast to the oddly shaped one Finn actually uses.

Continuity: Of the fish Finn is drawing at the beginning of the film there are two different versions in close-up.

Plot hole: When Estella comes into Finn's hotel room while he is sleeping she uses a hotel key. This key should have been with Finn as he was in his room, and his explanation for her her being allowed in - lax security - doesn't close this plot hole.

Continuity: When Mrs. Thrall appears first she is called Annette. In the gallery scene she is called Erica.

Audio problem: When Finn meets Estella at the club you hear her boyfriend telling a story about Michelangelo. Most of it must have been dubbed, only at the very end he is actually mouthing his words.

Continuity: In the scene in Mrs. Dinsmoor's bedroom the background changes: A green dress disappears from the wardrobe, and a huge mirror appears where you can see Finn's reflection.

Revealing: When Mrs. Thrall appears for the first time on the phone with a customer a few German words suggest that she is of German origin. Her accent reveals that she is not.

Continuity: When Finn rides the subway from the airport to the hotel he his playing with a airplane model. In close-up it lands on the NY subway map, which hangs behind Finn on the wall, way beyond reach while he is sitting there.

Continuity: When Finn runs to Ping's restaurant to meet Estella he is almost hit by a car. You can see that all other cars, which are scattered along the road, aren't moving.

Continuity: In the beginning Joe mentions that Mrs. Dinsmoor was left by her groom at her wedding 30 years ago. In the scene on the terrace, about 8 years later, she says that this happened to her 26 years ago.