Mansfield Park

Since secondary school I have loved Jane Austen's work. I love the language, the stories, the settings, the characters and their attitudes and the detail. There have been many great versions of Jane Austen's books, such as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 Sense and Sensibility and the 1995 Persuasion, but there are also some disappointing ones such as 1987's Northanger Abbey and 2007's Mansfield Park. This 1983 Mansfield Park is neither one of the greats or the disappointments regarding Jane Austen adaptations. It's not perfect, with a slow start and some stiff camera work, but it's still leagues ahead of the other two adaptations of the book, the 1999 version I disliked but had one or two decent things and the 2007 version I hated with a miscast Fanny Price and no actual sense of the era. This Mansfield Park has beautiful scenery and interiors as well as some handsome costumes, not only did I get a sense what era it was supposed to be set but also Mansfield Park itself didn't actually look like a fortress. The series is lengthy and the pacing leisurely, but considering the length of the book both were necessary and apart from at the start the adaptation benefits from these. The music is simple in composition, but not so much to be repetitive or over-bearing. The dialogue isn't too stilted and is in Austen's spirit, and once it gets going the storytelling with its detail to the time and characters is very believable and again pretty faithful. The acting was generally fine, Sylvestra Le Touzel's Fanny is not my definition of a great performance, but in the most challenging Austen heroine role she does do a good job being pretty and austere and is miles ahead of Frances O'Connor and Billie Piper. Nicholas Farrell is excellent though as Edmund and Bernard Hepton is a joy as Sir Thomas, but the best performances came from Jackie Smith-Wood in the complex but thankfully more subtle than before role of Mary Crawford, and Anna Massey who is as always great as Mrs Norris. So overall, has its foibles, but it is the best version and actually the only one I'd give as close as a recommendation to. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is unquestionably the best ever adaptation of this book, faithful to the text and faithful to the feeling of the book. Sylvestra le Touzel is appropriately mouse-like and really embodies the real Fanny Price, (one of my favourite Austen heroines). She displays that transcendence of flesh that Austen uses as a metaphor for stability in an increasingly precarious situation, both for the estate and for the individuals associated with it. More recent adaptations have tried to make Fanny more capricious and human... but that is not what she is about. She represents the rise of the diligent lower classes to dominate the corrupt aristocracy, of merit over money, and morality over license. She and Edmund are the eventual winners, custodians of their inheritance, when all the favoured children have fallen into sin and temptation and proved themselves unworthy. Fanny Price is not so very different from Jane Bennett, Anne Elliot or Elinor Dashwood. I don't understand why so many people find her character "difficult"

It's true that this version is a bit long and should only be attempted by real aficionados of Austen's work. I prefer it to the 1999 version, but someone looking to be entertained for an afternoon ought to look elsewhere. I didn't mind the actress who played Fanny as much as everybody else seems to. I won't praise her acting, but found it not much worse than anyone else's. She looked the part so much more than Frances O'Connor and played it with the necessary timidity that the other actress completely ignored. Edmund, I thought, looked all wrong for the part. I suppose this is a debatable point, but I felt his features were too old and his expressions too severe. Edmund was meant to be serious but warm. It is a subtlety that I felt, unfortunately, neither he nor the 1999 actor got right. The worst choice was Henry Crawford. His portrayal was so off and confusing that I found it hard to focus on the rest of the film. The actor played Crawford so flamboyantly that it is hard to imagine he made so many girls fall in love with him. Those are all of my real complaints; otherwise I found it an enjoyable, faithful adaptation of a wonderful book.

The actors weren't perfect, but they were mostly believable. Sylesta seemed to talk continually in a high tone, and didn't seem to fit comfortably into her role. But she was submissive yet resolute, as Fanny is supposed to be. I didn't feel Edmond was totally right for his role either. He didn't seem smooth enough or something. I liked Henry Crawford mostly, except he didn't make me fall in love with him when he addressed himself to Fanny. He wasn't convincing when he tried to woo Fanny- if he was i'd have fallen in love with him. He also had a curl of the lip that made him ugly- he would have been handsome without it. His sister totally hit the nail on the head though. And Lady Bertram was HILARIOUS! I loved her performance! Anna Massey as Aunt Norris was great too!

If you enjoy Jane Austin's novels, this is the best of the two available versions of Mansfield Park. It is very true to the book, but lacks the beautiful production values and outstanding cinematography of the 1999 version that stars Frances O'Connor.

Fanny Price has always been a problematic character for Austin's fans. Many that read the book when it was published in the early 1800s found her unbearable compared to Austin's other, more spirited heroines. Sylvestra Le Touzel does a nice job in this very challenging role.

The best performance in the movie, though, is Jackie Smith Wood's Mary Crawford. Mary is beautiful, flirtatious, morally confused, good hearted and shallow, all at once. She is one of the more complicated characters in all of Austin's novels, and Jackie Smith-Wood plays her to the hilt. It's a mystery why such a terrific performance did not yield further opportunities, but her career seems to have evaporated after this role.

This is a movie for the more patient Austin fan. The pacing is measured, and the characters, particularly Edmund and Mary Crawford, evolve as the story moves forward. Mansfield Park, unlike Austin's other successful novels, is really about the failed love affair between Edmund and Mary. As a result, it is a more somber read than Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. The wedding at the end is a natural result of Edmund coming home to Fanny as the one stable element in his life.

It's a solid movie with good acting and a complicated plot. It is well worth seeing.