Having seen the cast list, I confess I myself had great expectations for this film!

• Jeremy Irvine as Pip
• Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham
• Holliday Grainger as Estella
• Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch
• Robbie Coltrane as Mr Jaggers

And, of course, direction by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love in the Time of Cholera, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and screenplay by David Nicholls (author of One Day, 2010 Galaxy Book of the Year and adapted for a feature film).

Well, the film did not disappoint. I was gripped from the opening scene – that dark, chilling moment when a young boy visiting his parents’ grave is accosted by an escaped convict – until the final one, which is the happiest ending you’ll get from a Dickens novel, albeit a little abrupt.

The settings are wonderful – from the marshes of Kent, remote and serene, to inner-city Victorian London, dark and noisy and gritty, just as you’d expect for Dickens (to the point which you half-expect the Artful Dodger to appear and pickpocket someone). Wemmick’s ‘Englishman’s home is his castle’ setting is beautifully created – how wonderful to have a drawbridge to your little Woolwich house!

This isn’t a film for light viewing – in typical Dickens form, the plot twists and turns, and connecting the threads requires concentration. But that said, the writer and director do a super job of distilling the book for the screen without losing crucial elements.

It’s a film about love – the love of a parent for a child, and the love of a man for a woman. Magwitch is heartbreakingly good as the self-adopted father, and the chemistry between Estella and Pip is palpable, all the more so for the fleeting nature of their moments together.

But for me, the best part of the film is Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham. Really, any role that actress touches is brought to life. (No wonder she’s had two Academy Award nominations, six Golden Globe nominations, an International Emmy, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and was awarded a CBE last year by the Queen.) She is perfect as the jilted and damaged Miss Havisham, and her performance evoked a lot of empathy in me for the character, which I don’t recall feeling when I read the book.

In all, certainly worth watching if you enjoy period drama and agree with Dickens, as I do, when he said of his book, ‘it is a very fine idea.’