Mansfield Park

Rating:
Summary: The Book is Far more interesting then this Movie!
Review: I am a big Jane austen fan,and have been buying almost every movie that has come out. This was not worth the time or the money. The story went nowhere, and the characters seemed so placid and one demonsional. The main character is a simple girl named Fanny Price who comes to live with her rich uncle because her family cannor afford to keep her at the time. Mansfield Park is the name of her uncles estate. Fanny is a very shy girl who asks nothing and gets nothing. She spends her life there looking after her strange aunt who has a little pug dog. Her cousin Edmund is the only one who is kind to her. Only when 2 new people come to town does the story even become remotely interesting. Miss Mariah Crawford and her brother Charles are rich and snotty. Mariah likes Fanny as a friend, but has fallen in love with Edmund, but when she finds out that Edmund wants to be a minister instead of a wealthy mans she breaks his heart and says she will see him no more. Charles is a crafty man whose only amusement comes from making women fall in love with him and toying with their emotions. Until he tries to do it to Fanny who will have none of it. Since she is the only women who has not succome to his ways he falls madly in love with her. But when she refuses his attentions for a very long time he runs off with her married cousin. Then with nowhere to turn Edmund decides he wants to marry her so Fanny accepts and they live together happily at Mansfield Park. The movie is so slow and the plot so tedious it offers little amusement, and none of the charm that usually comes with Movies based on Jane Austen's books.

Rating:
Summary: BORING!
Review: I am a great fan of Jane Austen's works, and have read each of her novels several times with great zest. With that said, let me assure you that while this version of Mansfield Park is certainly faithful to the novel, it is absolutely soulless, dry, and painful to watch.

The "acting" (and I hesitate to call it that) is terrible. "Lady Bertram" is particularly terrible - she has affected a whiny voice and unblinking eyes as a substitute for acting; she appears drugged. "Fanny" is a tad better, and I didn't find her chopping hand-motions as distracting as some other reviewers.

This cannot in anyway compare with A&E's magnificent, glowing version of Pride & Prejudice. Mansfield Park is a captivating story and should be done justice to.

My advice is to save your money; the bad lighting, the hideous cinematography and lackluster costuming make this production a true nightmare. However, if you are truly desperate to watch a Jane Austen novel brought to life, try the 1970's version of Persuasion. It also has terrible costuming, but the acting is superb, and it's far more worthy as an Austen fix.

Rating:
Summary: Faithful to the book - but slow, also like the book
Review: I think that someone who hasn't read Mansfield Park is going to be bored by this production. And some that have read it, too. But if you have the time to invest, I think that this is about as faithful a rendition as we are likely to get.

Mansfield Park is my least favorite of Jane Austen's novels, partly because Fanny Price isn't the same kind of heroine that you find in P&P, S&S, or Emma. So - a producer could make a video with an exciting Fanny Price, but then you wouldn't have Mansfield Park.

I give it 5 stars because I believe this video does the best possible job with a complex plot, and because I believe that the actors were apt for the roles they were given.

Rating:
Summary: An avid Jane Austen fan..
Review: This adaptation is true to the text but that is its only credit.
The actors are not well cast for the roles they play, i.e Edmund Bertram is in his early twenties in the book! The woman who plays Fanny Price moves awkwardly(the hands) especially, which I found very odd. It was painful to watch it through.
Aunt Norris and Sir Thomas's characters were cast and played well.

Rating:
Summary: True to book, but not to spirit
Review: This BBC miniseries is far truer to the book than the recent film from Miramax staring Embeth Davidtz. I suppose, unhappy with Fanny, the screenplay writer, Patricial Rozema, rewrote the main character to reflect Jane Austen, which simply is hard to swallow. However in this version (BBC) the script is close to the character and point of the book, the only thing lacking is the acting, the cast simply seems to have missed the characters at points. The actress who plays Fanny, Sylvestra De Touzel, looks like a china doll through out much of the film and seems insipid (but many readers find Fanny insipid as it is); however, the finial scene does her credit. If you are a sympathizer with the Crawfords from the book, this is a very good adaptation since Robert Burbage and Jackie Smith-Wood do the best acting in the film, if you can over look their terrible wigs. I also find Mrs. Norris to be particularly well acted and interpreted. I agree that this novel could do with a similar adaptation as Pride and Prejudice wonderfully received in 1995 by A&E/BBC in 1995 - but in comparison to the major motion picture this miniseries is far preferable to Austen enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: Will someone please make a REAL movie of Mansfield Park?
Review: This is a stylish, well-costumed, and soulless version of a great book. It left me absolutely cold. It looks like one wooden stage set after another, with acting to match. If Austen's Fanny Price is irritating, Sylvestra LeTouzel makes her positively infuriating -- whining, complaining, sanctimonious -- what could Edmund or anyone else see in this person? The only memorable performance is by Jackie Smith-Wood as Mary Crawford, who brings out all her superficial charm, her shallowness, and, finally, her amorality. In this movie, she comes off as a much more sympathetic character than Fanny. Henry Crawford seems like a dressed-up fashion plate reciting his lines. The movie stayed fairly close to the book, but the ending in the movie seems more of an afterthought, tacked on in a few lines of narration.

The definitive movie version of Mansfield Park is yet to be written. The movie currently showing bills itself as a 'wicked comedy', and Jane Austen never intended Mansfield Park to be read as a comedy. And while Frances O'Connor is a delight in the current movie and a much better actress than LeTouzel, her Fanny Price isn't Austen's; O'Connor's Fanny is strong, spirited, animated, nothing like the weak, spineless Fanny of the book. I hope someone makes a movie version of Mansfield Park that is worthy of the book and soon, because it's one of the best novels in the English language and deserves a version that finally does it justice.

Rating:
Summary: Subtle and character-driven, Manfield Park is a BBC gem.
Review: Though not my favorite Austen, I have watched this movie again and again and I appreciate it more with each viewing. The characters are excellently portrayed and believable within the context of the mores and manners of Jane Austen's era. Robert Burbage was masterful in the role of Henry Crawford. His attraction to Fanny Price was an appeal to what was still fine and honorable in his dissipated soul, perhaps his last chance to redeem himself.Her refusal, though perfectly understandable even if her heart were at liberty, sealed his reckless fate. Fanny Price, played by Sylvestra Le Touzel, grows from a shy, repressed, vacant-eyed girl into a young woman of firm mind and stellar character. In the end she gets what she well-deserves - the honest and upstanding Edmund Bertram, the man she loves. Perhaps she overplays her part. Her expressions and gestures are rather off-puting at first but, with patience and exposure, you will grow to appreciate her. The wordly and witty Miss Mary Crawford ( Jackie Smith-Wood) is a perfect foil for Fanny's innocence and delicacy. A rival for Edmund's heart, she prevails until he discovers her true character and compares it to that of his cousin and dearest friend Fanny Price. Like her brother she is forsaken at last in favor of real goodness and decency. The supporting cast, especially Anna Massey and Bernard Hepton, are wonderful and a delight to watch. I recommend this film to all avid Austen fans. Please take into consideration, however, that BBC productions often appear more like stage-plays than your typical American movie productions and the action tends to be slower and more elaborate than you may be used to.