Mansfield Park
1999
This sterling adaptation of Austen's third published novel, set in early 19th century Portsmouth, England, concerns Fanny Price (O'Connor), an intelligent young woman who is sent to live with her mother's wealthy family. Settling into her new life, Fanny is treated poorly by everyone except her cousin Edmund (Miller). The pair .. Read more
| Starring | Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Frances O'Connor |
|---|---|
| Director | Patricia Rozema |
| Genres | Drama |
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Mansfield Park
This sterling adaptation of Austen's third published novel, set in early 19th century Portsmouth, England, concerns Fanny Price (O'Connor), an intelligent young woman who is sent to live with her mother's wealthy family. Settling into her new life, Fanny is treated poorly by everyone except her cousin Edmund (Miller). The pair connect immediately, and pretty soon deeper feelings emerge. The arrival of a conniving brother and sister duo cause a commotion, forcing Fanny to decide if she should succumb to her material surroundings, or remain true to her heart.
| Starring | Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Frances O'Connor, Harold Pinter, Lindsay Duncan, Sheila Gish, James Purefoy, Justine Waddell, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Director | Patricia Rozema |
| Studio | WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 47 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 15 Jun 2006 Production year: 1999 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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Writer/director Patricia Rozema looks beyond Jane Austen's third novel for inspiration and uses the author's own letters and journals to beef up this cleverly constructed and lively update. Frances O'Connor dazzles as Fanny Price, plucked from poverty and sent to live with her wealthy relatives on the Mansfield Park estate. There she must choose between true love and social duty. Slave-trading, lower-class life and contemporary sexual mores help to make Rozema's bracing rumination on class hypocrisy and social hierarchy a compelling revision of traditional costume drama. Purists may complain, but this effervescent version of Austen's least appealing work is never dull and honestly earns its emotional payoff.
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Fanny Price, Austin's timid, neurasthenic heroine is here transformed into a forceful writer (based on Rozema's view of Jane Austen herself); other alterations include shifting the action back in time to make points about the slave trade. More seriously,
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Most helpful member's review
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15 out of 16 people found this review helpful
Mansfield Park on drugs
This isn't an awful movie. It's quite watchable. Some of the acting, especially from Pinter is excellent.
But the rest resembles those films made from classic novels in the 30s where no one concerned in making it had time to read the book. A quick treatment by a college student, a quick script conference, then off we go. Rozema has almost no idea of what the book is about but is entirely unembarrassed by her ignorance in her interview on the DVD.
Austen fans don't have to wait long to discover just how far off the wavelength she is. The first contact between Sir Thomas and Fanny is a reproof for running through MP's corridors shrieking like a banshee. Lines are taken from Mary Crawford in the book and given to Fanny in the film. How's that for missing the point? One by one characters appear looking no more recognisable than if they were appearing in a literary celebrity edition of Scooby Doo.
If the film was called something else and the characters had different names, it would be impossible to trace it's origins to Austen's book which is definitely not a conventional love story about bright young things getting together having overcome a few obstacles.
There's very little to choose between the morals of Rozema's characters, so nothing of the catastrophic descent into the abyss is associated with the production of Lover's Vows, nor do we have any glimpse of Rushworth and Crawford vandalising Sotherton. Mrs Norris is one of the most deliciously evil creations in literature - Rozema reduces her part to a few lines. Thomas Betram is a 'modern' artist - yikes! William Price, Fanny's brother and one of the key relationships in the book, is missing altogether. Susan, her sister, has been reading too many Style magazines.
Mansfield Park might have been a bit like this had it been written by Georgette Heyer or even Jackie Collins. As an Austen adaptation it is execrable. But it's so far off the mark, that as something else entirely, it's not all that bad. Maybe they should just change the title. -
Most recent members' review
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9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Mangled & Corrupt
According to the director Mansfield Park is a kind of Frankenstein creation. It mixes Jane Austen’s novel with Jane Austen’s life, as a result you are left with this monstrosity.
Mansfield Park is probably the least popular of all Austen’s novels, which is presumably why the director wanted to modernise it by adding the odd sex scene and rapist.
The characters are mangled, the story makes no sense because so much has been added and taken away.
Fanny is more likeable, she is stronger, not the weak wreck she is in the novel (but she has very high morals, which makes her even more annoying) I’ll admit that much, but it’s not the Fanny that Jane Austen created, so it didn’t fit terribly well. Watch out for Henry, you aren’t actually supposed to like him, but he’s the only one in this movie with an ounce of personality.
If you are like me and simply can’t miss anything related to Jane Austen then watch this, but don’t expect to see the original story. You will either love this, or hate it. It’s always nice to have a new spin on things and to see things in a different perspective, but in this case it just wasn’t done very well. The dialogue is cliché, the set is poor, and the acting leaves a lot to be desired. -
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This sterling adaptation of Austen's third published novel, set in early 19th century Portsmouth, England, concerns Fanny Price (O'Connor), an intelligent young woman who is sent to live with her ... -