Mansfield Park (1999)

Well Deserved Praise

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I have always wanted to watch this movie as it stars Frances O'Connor, and because I adore her. But, 5 minutes into the movie it became insufferable. Only the movie's title is Mansfield Park, nothing else even reminds of the novel. Frances O'Connor's character Fanny was nothing like the Fanny in the novel and it actually bears resemblances to Jane Austen's own character and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice instead.I don't think I might have enjoyed the movie even if I hadn't read the novel. it seems like this was an attempt to create a movie like the Sense and Sensibility from 1995, which was a fabulous adaptation, regardless of slight changes from the source. But Mansfield Park is mere torture of the audience with a bunch of obnoxious characters. God knows how this movie has a ranking of 7 stars here. I actually used to trust the IMDb ratings!

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS (but not much)*Over the years, we've seen Austen stories adapted for screen, many with liberties taken for the sake of expediency or artistic license. This film uses the title and characters from a wonderful, thought-provoking story and alters them beyond recognition. It also eliminates some key figures and plot completely (her relationship with her brother William is essential to the story, and he's not even alluded to in this film). Many of Fanny's behaviors (pique made obvious to visitors and her "superiors", her feet up on a chair in a non-private room, déshabillé with a near stranger) and statements are so thoroughly current-day and not in keeping with the shy, insecure Fanny Price of Austen's book that they are as much a distraction as a ringing cell phone inserted into a scene would be. There's also a great deal of sexualization of the characters which is superfluous and, again, distracting. It's not clear what story Ms. Rozema wanted to tell here but it surely was not Mansfield Park.

This 1999 adaptation of Mansfield Park is attractively filmed and has a good cast. It's interesting to see how so many of the cast members have become successful on television since: James Purefoy in the Following, Johnny Lee Miller in Elementary and High Bonneville in Downton Abbey. Francis O'Connor isn't as pretty an actress as I would have liked to fill the role but she acts well.For modern audiences, Mansfield Park will never be widely embraced as Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice because one has to accept a great love between first cousins. It's a shame this dated aspect stops it from being more well loved because the story is interesting and deals with adultery and divorce which is quite daring for the time. Also the Crawfords are among Austen characters some of the more interesting flawed characters. They are well played by Embeth Davitz and Alessandro Nivola.There are some differences from the novel that have been criticised in this version. Some relocations of events and reducing of characters I understand is necessary for brevity. The slavery issue is played up to make things more modern.Overall it's still a well made and attractive adaptation that doesn't have that cheap television feel of some other productions. Worth a watch.

Mansfield Park is one of my favorite Austen Novels (and one of her better written ones, I think) and this movie does it a kind of semi- justice. They change some of the points of the story by elaborating some things that they merely brushed over in the book. They don't emphasize certain other things that the characters feel, say or do but they do it without alteration of the essence of the character. (I will not point them out here for those of you who haven't read the book so as not to draw your eye to it when you watch the movie.) They also change the spot of where things happen, or how they happen but you still get the core of the characters across, so no harm done.Other than those small changes I think that this movie is very well done. No book-to-movie translation is exactly like the book. They must make artistic changes because you can't see exactly what the character is feeling or thinking. The casting was brilliantly done because the actors chosen don't overshadow the character they are meant to portray; although I think they gave the audience a more favourable persona in Edmund. In the movie he is protective and affectionate of Fanny (which he is in the Novel as well) but without the pass-over kind of affection that it was. In the novel he would sometimes seem to the reader unworthy of her affections just because he was so blasé towards her and her opinions that you would think him a bit of a snob. The movie cuts that out and makes him seem like the perfect man personified. Fanny was excellent, she was just as awkward and unsure yet lovely and well spoken as the Fanny in the book. The language of the script is considerably well written and the way that they speak pulls you into the storyline.Overall this is a good movie for period piece fans, but for the Austen fans who want an exact screen portrayal of their beloved book, they might be a tiny bit let down. This movie deserves a viewing no matter which group you fall under. 7/10