These are new photos of Helena Bonham Carter at the BFI London Film Festival over the weekend. The purple dress is Vivienne Westwood, and that’s from the Awards Ceremony on Saturday night (the same one Tom Hiddleston attended). The other photos – of Helena in the black-and-white dress – are from last night’s closing festival premiere, the premiere of Great Expectations, where Helena plays Miss Havisham. That dress is… well, I can’t find the ID, but I’m assuming it’s Westwood too, just because the design looks so very Westwood, and Helena wears so much Westwood in general.
Can I just say? I LOVE the black-and-white dress. I think that might be one of the most beautiful and interesting dresses that Helena has ever worn, ever. She looks amazing! The purple Westwood is just kind of there – I’ve seen that particular dress on Christina Hendricks and Kat Dennings, and while Helena looks pretty in that color and design, it feels rather “been there, done that.” And is it just me or has Helena lost some weight too? She’s looking particularly fit and svelte in these photos.
As for her role in Mike Newell’s latest adaptation of Great Expectations, Helena says in a new interview that she was profoundly disturbed to be asked to play the famous Miss Havisham role. In case you aren’t familiar with one of Charles Dickens’ most famous characters, Miss Havisham is meant to be some insane, bitter old crone who hangs around her faded mansion in an old wedding gown (she was left at the altar in her youth). In other adaptations, the role has gone to actresses in their 60s or 70s, and so 46-year-old Helena said the offer to play the role was “like a slap in the face… I thought ‘Jesus, give us a chance,’ but then Mike told me, ‘don’t panic, if you read the book she’s actually in her 40s’ – in other words exactly the same age as me.” Now Helena describes herself as “obsessed” and says, “She really is an incredible character. I kept wondering how does anyone end up being so psychologically grief-struck?”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yup attended both events! She is very petite. She was standing right next Dave Walliams when I shook hands with him.
Great Expectations is very good, film got a standing ovation!
Love both dresses, but my fave is definitely the purple one;
Dooliloo, for the love of Leonard Cohen, what juicy news you have about my newest CB husband Benedict Cumberbatch? GAHHHH! I keep refreshing the page with Hiddleston’s post but you haven’t answered me!
*crosses arms and pouts*
Eve, I just love your cute posts. And I love that you love Leonard Cohen.
Thank you, dear! 🙂
Ah…Cohen, so glad I “discovered” him back in 1999/2000 (via Nick Cave and Tom Waits). It changed my life a little bit.
But I have to leave now. I waited for Dooliloo The Lucky Bitch as much I could — now I have chores to do.
Bitch calm your tits down and de-pout will you I was working, lots of editing to do! Had to de-bitch myself away from here to concentrate and work 😀
Anyway I replied on the Hiddleston board 😉
Leonard Cohen huh… you got good taste *pat on the back*
I like her. She is sexy without trying too hard.
LOVE LOVE LOVE her.
I think she’s had some eye work done but, whatever. She’s amazing.
I’m surprised nobody else seems to have noticed this.
I think Helena has deffo had work done, and not just around her eyes. Her skin looks impossibly smooth. A bit disappointing as I’d always thought of her as someone who stood out against the norms of the film industry. Let’s hope she doesn’t go too far with it.
I think they all have work done, even the ones rail out against it. You can’t tell me that Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet haven’t done something to their faces.
@bns
Streep has deffo had work done (though it’s been done well) but I honestly don’t think Winslet has. But she’s only in her 30s – give her time and she’ll be toxing and lifting like the rest of them.
In fairness to Helena, I don’t think she’s ever said she hadn’t or would never get work done. It’s just that I love her wacky, unconventional style and would like to think she’d go against the trend on this. Seems not.
@Christina
I don’t know, Kate just looks so different to me. Maybe it’s just aging. I like her, but her holier-than-thou attitude about plastic surgery is ridiculous.
And I agree about Helena. She just seems so laid back and cool, it doesn’t seem like aging would bother her. Regardless, she’s beautiful and looks great.
I used to teach Great Expectations; Miss Havisham is a great characer. Ms. Bonham would’ve been a good Estella a few years ago.
She often brings the crazy, which I like, but not this time. This black and white dress is fabulous, and her makeup is really, really flattering, too. HBC is looking magnificent, Havisham-Be-Damned.
She really must tidy up a bit more. Her bedroom/bird’s nest hair look does nothing for her face.
She looked great! Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the pics!
The black and white dress is Westwood.
However, Sarah Jessica Parker’s floral version of this dress is so much MORE
http://www.metro.co.uk/film/828900-sex-and-the-city-2-sarah-jessica-parker-hits-tokyo-for-japan-premiere
I have wanted that dress since I saw it on SJP.
On entirely different note, Miss Havisham has been my halloween costume for the past 5yrs
Miss Havisham is a great character and she deserves to be bitter, afterall she was jilted on her wedding morning after she’s all dressed up and wedding breakfast is all laid out. So she refuses to remove the dress or breakfast…..which is when we first meet her.
Amazing what a change in print can do. Looks so different in that floral. SJP also had the hem and length different.
Also like it better on SJP.
First dress/overall look is lovely, second (purple) dress… Not so much.
My boobies hurt just looking at her. Love the dresses, tho. But.. ouch!
This ^^. The black one is just gorgeous, but a little taut in the chest. Being chesty myself, my boobs hurt looking at it.
This ^^. The black one is just gorgeous, but a little taut in the chest. Being chesty myself, my chest hurt just looking at it.
HBC has always been known as an eccentric dresser, person, artist, and I love her for it. However it seems since her turn as the Queen Mother, in The Kings Speech, she’s attempting to be taken a bit more seriously.
She is spot on, in both the black/white dress, and especially brings the WOW factor with the purple.
She and Tim appear to have a mutually supportive, rare for famous couple, made for each other vibe, and 2 adorable kids. They are my fave celebrity couple!
THE KING’S SPEECH was a return to the sorts of roles HBC was known for, which made her name. She used to joke that she was the corset queen. Which she was. 80s/90s she was only cast in costume dramas or corset requiring period roles. Her casting in BOXING HELENA and FIGHTCLUB were very much seen as shocking and risky. They did help her break out of the typecasting, and she successfully avoided those types of roles until TKS.
As for her styling…..many european actresses do not view the red carpet as career enhancing. A necessary evil but very much in your career aspirations are glamour, reality, not particularly serious thespian. Only when they go to Hollywood do you see any kind of improvement in their styling. Some like HBC can hold out so as to appear eccentric which then becomes their red carpet ‘thing’. HBC has worn westwood for past 15yrs, exclusively. Perhaps she finally gave into the stylists or westwood has finally done the same because westwood was more artist than red carpet until she was showcased in SATC. Since then her clothes always have a RC look.
That’s another mutually beneficial relationship HBC is involved in. It’s bringing them both to another level.
She had a small cameo in Absolutely Fabulous, when Edina goes under for surgery. HBC comes on as her daughter Saffron, and tells her mom, she’s wearing her LaCroix, and always will, and she’s dropping out of university to bum around Europe for awhile, which thrills Edina.
HBC has to have a great sense of humor (rare find in one so talented, and artistically motivated), she’s the total package.
she wasn’t in Boxing Helena; that was Sherilyn Fenn.
Tittacular!
She has the most beautiful face.
I know right. I love her so much. Have had a super girl crush on her since Room with a View and Lady Jane. Her turn as Marla in Fightclub just cemented that love forever.
I love her. I adore her. Everything she’s in, I find fascinating, and I can’t imagine anyone but her as Bellatrix-possibly one of my favorite casting choices ever. I think the black dress looks amazing…
BUT, in every comment, a little snark must fall-in that awful purple dress, with her hair kind of teased…she looks like a Housewife. Possibly Jersey or New York.
*ducks and runs for cover*
She will always be Lucy from ‘A Room with a View” and Lady Jane Grey!! She was soooo beautiful and still is.
Yes, Lucy Honeychurch. I’ve thought for years that she and Julian should do a sequel, “A House with a View” or something similar.
Oh! A Room With a View is just the most romantic film ever! Loved her/wanted to be Lucy Honeychurch. So many wonderful performers – Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Daniel Day Lewis, Rupert Graves & Julian Sands. God, I thought he was sooo beautiful. le sigh.
Do you remember the scene when they go bathing in the pond? FULL FRONTAL. First time I’d ever seen a wing wang (I was like a pre-teen at the time & it was on cable! LOL)
She’s always unique, a rare talent among actresses. Helena accomplishes this without the tedious TRY HARD. Aging gracefully.
I agree. She adds complexity to characters without calling attention to the fact she is doing it. When I watch her in a film, I am usually struck by how much I enjoyed her portrayal without her going into a caricature.
I imagine she was wonderful as Miss Havisham b/c Havisham has layers beyond just crazy bat in a wedding dress. I could see HBC making the subtle shift from batty to manipulator at the end effortlessly.
I love that b/w dress.
Gorgeous!! Love her eccentric quirky arse no matter what she wears
She usually looks like a quirky mess but she looks great in both dresses. Damn I wonder what category fashion police will put her in now?
Love her an her hubby they are perfect for each other and I think she has a pretty face but her wardrobe choices sometimes make her look ugly but that’s just her style I guess
I think she downplays her looks by dressing so peculiar. I always thought she was attractive, but she is not smiling…I wonder did she ever whiten her teeth?
I’m a great fan and she is a great actress
I find the whole styling pretty tragic, from the red nail polish which clashes with the lipstick colour, to the terrible hairdo to the ruffles. She is too short for this dress. I actually think she looks tacky – sorry but I really do.
Gorgeous, perfect, can do no wrong . . . also no stranger to playing insane: Big Fish, Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland . . . I’m sure there’s more.
Quite atypical & crazed in “Margaret’s Museum”.
She has the most fascinating face. I’ve loved her ever since A Room With A View. Great actress!
She can do no wrong in my eyes, I love this chick–superb at her craft!!!
lovelovelove
She looks damn good looking in both pictures seeing as she usually dresses like an insane hobo. That black and white dress is gorgeous.
I’m glad she’s playing miss havisham, since she is usually walking around in that character anyway. Love that black and white dress, it is havisham-couture.
I love her. She’s cute and gorgeous at the same time.
She definitely had some work done – GOOD work. Her clothes look good, for a change.
She looks wonderful. I like her crazy disheveled style. But in this, it’s actually tamed down a bit. Still looks great!
She looks amazing–beautiful skin and hair–but I dislike that black and white dress pretty sharply. It looks wrinkled and ill-fitting, and it makes it obvious her bosom is pretty much duct taped up.
That purple dress, on the other hand, is as incredible-looking as she is!
I might be the only one who thinks her lipstick looks terrible, but for me it just ruins the first look. I can’t stand dark lip liner that shows through a lighter shade. It just looks tacky. Nineties throwback tacky. I think the whole second (purple) look is awful, and the lip coloring is replicated there.
LOVE HBC’s acting though. She’s amazing.
Those two make me think of the real-life version of Addams family. She certainly has original style. The too-dark-lipliner should just go.
She looks best when she’s not trying so hard to be different. The top of the black dress is a little too tight, but her face looks beautiful.
Gorgeous! Often times Helena gets crap about her unusual looks but I find her allways gorgeous in her own eccentric way.
I agree. I love her :).
I like this dress too, but I thought there was too much white material at the bottom. I think she’s really beautiful, but the bird’s nest hair and odd clothing choices are distracting. She could definitely give the younger actresses in Hollywood a run for their money.
HBC looks fabulous. I love both looks, only she could pull them off IMO. I adore HBC, she’s talented and so beautiful.
Love Helena. She is so unique, beautiful and such a great actress. One of my favorites since I saw A Room With a View and Lady Jane, many years ago.
LOVE. HER.
She’s talented, she’s hilarious, and she’s gorgeous. One of my biggest girlcrushes.
i dont share her taste in clothes but i love her liker an actress. shes really talent.