"There either is or is not, the way things are.
The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child.
The saltwater on your sunburnt legs.
Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes it’s red.
But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day.
I’m not going to tell you the story the way it happened.
I’m going to tell it the way I remember it.
— "Finn", Great Expectations (1998) directed by Alfonso Cuarón
To say this film speaks to me would be a gross underestimate of the impact the entirety of its modern approach brought to my understanding. Charles Dickens obviously had intention in his writing but the beauty of that 1998 film interpretation was deafening to the cries in the most painful recesses of my soul. I recognized the dejected acceptance of mediocrity in Finn, knowing he was created for greatness ... something more than the daily players in his life could even comprehend. His art was prodigy level in the presence of immature family members forced to rear this orphaned child.
Finn accepts his lot in life as a Gulf fisherman, which brings me to the film being set all around my stomping grounds of Gulf Coast Florida. Ca d' Zan at the Ringling in Sarasota, FL is used as the "Paradiso Perduto" mansion, among perfectly recognizable flats and inlets for the various water & ocean shots. These familiar coastal shots in the Gulf of Mexico are the opening moments to this cinematic excursion into "coming of age" and electing to grow up in the humble light of the Sunshine State
... a young boy standing in ankle deep water, sketching the various fish he sees, while a voice over begins the quote from above
"I'm going to tell it the way I remember it ..."
V. Renée