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Title: "I never cared about the money."
Review: That line from this production given to John Jasper near the end of the film sums up just how dreadful this "completion" of the unfinished Dickens novel is. Ridiculous soap opera conclusion tacked on to the story ruins an otherwise excellent production. I loved the acting, the visuals, and the first half of the film. The final thirty minutes or so make it all a bad joke, and I felt like a fool watching it until I turned it off five or ten minute before it ended. I was in Rochester last year and watched them film some of the scenes done in the cathedral graveyard which is immediately adjacent to the cathedral, so was hoping that I would enjoy the film. It's better to watch the film without the contrived ending, just as Dickens left his story - unfinished. Sorry. Just plain old bad writing ruins what might have been a good Dickens adaptation.
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