Wondrous Words Wednesday: Great Expectations

Ooooh!  I've got Great Expectations to look forward to, but when? I just read a good review in The Guardian, (read it but come back) the film came out in Ireland on November 30 but still no word when it comes out here.

It's directed by Mike Newell and stars Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, and Jeremy Irvine as Pip.

I've put the film on the backburner due to the lack of a release date (and my Les Miz obsession) but reading the review has me thinking about it all over again. I've been wary about Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham ever since I saw the first pictures of her in full bridal regalia. I just didn't feel she was decrepit enough. Certainly not dusty enough of a brittle antique in comparison to the spinster of  Dicken's novel. Although, by my calculations Havisham was probably somewhere in her late 40's/early 50's anyway so HBC isn't really too young. Except that while "50 is the new 30" nowadays, back then it was "50 is the new 80"! So shouldn't Miss Havisham have a little more of that old lace look about her? Not just her clothing, all that's fine.. more than fine, actually.Costume designer Beatrix Pasztor really excells! But  shouldn't HBC have the lacy age lines and that faded powderiness of an older complexion?  Guess I'll have to wait and see when it comes out here. Please, movie gods, don't let it go direct to DVD!

While I enjoyed the book (as I've written here, I also found it tedious and tough going at times. I read Bleak House years ago and loved it so it's not the length. I think it's the age. Mine!  Anyway, I am really hoping, in fact I have Great Expectations, that this particular movie will be better than the book. At least for little old me.

My contributions to Wondrous Words Wednesday come from Dicken's novel. Play along with Kathy at Bermuda Onion where every Wednesday we share words we've discovered in our reading.

Rushlight

"As I had asked for a night-light, the chamberlain had brought me in,
before he left me, the good old constitutional rushlight of those
virtuous days."

rushlight

noun

a tallow candle with a rush stem as the wick

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. 

Confute (from this portion of one of Dicken's lengthier sentences)

"and then it was only brought
about through an honest little grocer with a white hat, black gaiters,
and red nose, getting into a clock, with a gridiron, and listening, and
coming out, and knocking everybody down from behind with the gridiron
whom he couldn't confute with what he had overheard."

con·fute

  [kuh n-fyoot]  Show IPAverb (used with object), con·fut·ed, con·fut·ing.1.to prove to be false, invalid, or defective; disprove: to confute anargument.2.to prove (a person) to be wrong by argument or proof: toconfute one's opponent.3.Obsolete . to bring to naught; confound.Origin: 1520–30;  < Latin confūtāre  to abash, silence, refute, equivalent tocon- con- + -fūtāre;  cf. refute

 Plenipotentiary

"This led to Mr. Wopsle's (who had never been heard of before) coming in
with a star
and garter on, as a plenipotentiary of great power direct from the
Admiralty, to say that the Swabs were all to go to prison on the spot,
and that he had brought the boatswain down the Union Jack, as a slight
acknowledgment of his public services."

plen·i·po·ten·ti·ar·y
noun1.a person, especially a diplomatic agent, invested with full poweror authority to transact business on behalf of another.
adjective2.invested with full power or authority, as a diplomatic agent.3.conferring or bestowing full power, as a commission.4.absolute or full, as power.
Origin: 
1635–45;  < Medieval Latin plēnipotentiārius. 

  [plen-uh-puh-ten-shee-er-ee, -shuh-ree]  Show IPA noun, plural plen·i·po·ten·ti·ar·ies, adjective.