
Great Expectations (1998)
26 continuity mistakes
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Robert De Niro
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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: When Mrs. Dinsmoor leaves the terrace the glass of wine which she had just emptied is almost full again.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: When Mrs. Thrall appears first she is called Annette. In the gallery scene she is called Erica.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: Of the fish Finn is drawing at the beginning of the film there are two different versions in close-up.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: In the scene where Finn paints Estella's portrait Mrs. Dinsmoor puts down the same empty glass twice.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: Mrs. Dinsmoor doesn't visibly age over a time span of about 15 years.
Add time
NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelixContinuity mistake: 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.
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NancyFelix