Great Expectations

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:54:00)

NancyFelix

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. (00:03:40)

NancyFelix

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.

Plot hole: How on earth did Lustig's killer get on the subway, when the three guys who were after him couldn't? (01:34:00)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:25:25)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:18:40)

NancyFelix

Revealing mistake: 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. (00:03:10)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:22:50)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:03:05)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: When Mrs. Dinsmoor leaves the terrace the glass of wine which she had just emptied is almost full again. (00:38:05)

NancyFelix

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. (01:35:20)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:54:00)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:55:15)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:12:00)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: Of the fish Finn is drawing at the beginning of the film there are two different versions in close-up. (00:03:05)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:52:10)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: When Finn goes back home in his boat after his first encounter with Lustig his clothes, which had been drenched before, are completely dry. (00:05:05)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:16:20)

NancyFelix

Estella: We are who we are, people don't change.

More quotes from Great Expectations

Trivia: Of all the characters, only Estella's name appeared in both the film and the original novel. All other characters had different names in the loosely-adapted film version.

megamii

More trivia for Great Expectations

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.