This Is The 'Posh' Version. A 1999 TV Film Adaptation that assumes much, abandons the familiar and proudly presents us with 'Pip 'The' Gentleman' who has mastered the art of speaking 'posh' & a Pip who is immersed in Dickensian life & all ready, for a 'young' 'gentleman's life.
My guess is that the Screenplay Writer Tony Marchant & the Director Julian Jarrold tried to bring about a more 'classy' or 'gentrified' type of Great Expectations & a real period drama as such would have been at the time of Dickens' writing, with a class structure in place in society.
This Ethical Version filters out the 'trivia' to focus more on Pip's business as a 'young' gentleman and subsequently a Gentleman thereafter. It's unique attributes to the story is that it does not bore us with the 'Once Upon A Time' there was a boy named Pip on the marshes details & part of the story, neither does it tantalise us with the elated 'In The Beginning Was The Word - ie: (The Novel) - & 'The Word Became Flesh' - ie: (The Novel Became A Screenplay). Therefore unlike other adaptations the story unfolds as a 'Dialogue' in 'the present moment' and not a 'Narrative' of 'the past'.
For me, the quantifier for an 'adaptation' or a 'loosely based' drama/film/movie is a question of ethics if the story does not begin at the beginning - regardless of the past, present or future tense it is written and regardless of dialogue, monologue or narrative.
My guess is that the Screenplay Writer Tony Marchant & the Director Julian Jarrold tried to bring about a more 'classy' or 'gentrified' type of Great Expectations & a real period drama as such would have been at the time of Dickens' writing, with a class structure in place in society.
This Ethical Version filters out the 'trivia' to focus more on Pip's business as a 'young' gentleman and subsequently a Gentleman thereafter. It's unique attributes to the story is that it does not bore us with the 'Once Upon A Time' there was a boy named Pip on the marshes details & part of the story, neither does it tantalise us with the elated 'In The Beginning Was The Word - ie: (The Novel) - & 'The Word Became Flesh' - ie: (The Novel Became A Screenplay). Therefore unlike other adaptations the story unfolds as a 'Dialogue' in 'the present moment' and not a 'Narrative' of 'the past'.
For me, the quantifier for an 'adaptation' or a 'loosely based' drama/film/movie is a question of ethics if the story does not begin at the beginning - regardless of the past, present or future tense it is written and regardless of dialogue, monologue or narrative.