|
MANSFIELD PARK Send This Review to a Friend
Inevitably "Mansfield Park," showcased at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, invites consideration on two levels. How effective a film is it, and how closely does it adhere to Jane Austen's 1814 novel? On the first score, this is a smashingly entertaining drama that is vibrant, colorful and bursting with outstanding performances. Thus the film stands tall on its own as a separate entity from its renowned source. Writer-director Patricia Rozema has succeeded in capturing a period and getting us involved with plot and character. "Mansfield Park" takes is place among Austen adaptations as a major achievement.
On the other hand, those who demand fidelity to Austen to the letter will find plenty with which to quarrel in the story of a young girl taken to the wealthy household of her aunt and given an oportunity to grow up in surroundings economically superior to the poor home life she leads with her parents. For starters, Rozema gave herself latitude by basing the film not only on Austen's novel but on her letters and early journals. Then she decided to turn Fanny Price into a budding Jane Austen, making her a promising writer and giving her more charm than the very reticent, self-effacing Fanny has in the novel. She also eliminated the character of William, Fanny's brother, who is very important in the book. In addition, she has Fanny promising to marry Henry Crawford at one point, although she quickly has a change of mind.
The slave trade, the way in which Sir Thomas Bertram, head of the household in which Fanny is brought to live, earns his money is briefly mentioned in the novel. The film deals with it sharply and provides fireworks between Bertram and his son Tom, here made more of a rebel. Jane Austen wrote with delicacy and the book's key sex scandal is revealed by gentle description. This being 1999, Rozema has the couple explicitly caught in the act. She also suggests some sexual appreciation of Mary Crawford for Fanny, nothing definite, just a faint hint.
There are other manipulations Austen buffs can find for themselves, but they are quite beside the point except for those who only want to see Austen's work on screen without any basic tinkering. But Rozema has tossed caution aside and concentrated on making a most enjoyable film that has much to say about the early 19th century period in which it is set and that offers a fascinating lot of characters. Her casting is impeccable, staring with Frances O'Connor as Fanny. I think Fanny's often cited reputation for being annoying to readers is a bum rap to start with. O'Connor makes her every bit as interesting as I think she really is, and then some.
Jonny Lee Miller is excellent as Edmund Bertram, the young man Fanny really wants. Alessandro Nivola is fine as the dashing if undependable Henry Crawford. Embeth Davidtz is beautiful and properly manipulative as Mary Crawford. Harold Pinter takes a holiday from playwriting to act the role of Sir Thomas Bertram and does an excellent job. Superb actress Lindsay Duncan doubles as the lethargic Lady Bertram and as Fanny's mother, besieged with children and housework. Other good performances are provided by Sheila Gish as Mrs. Norris, Victoria Hamilton as Maria Bertram, Justine Waddell as Julia Bertram, Sophia Myles as Fanny's sister Susan, Hugh Bonneville as Mr. Rushworth, and James Purefoy as Tom Bertram.
The cinematography by Michael Coulter and production design by Christopher Hobbs make the film pleasing to the eye, and Rozema succeeds in getting us involved in the plot machinations and the aspirations of the characters, as well as enabling Fanny to stake out the principles by which she lives instead of bowing to the pressures on a woman of her humble position to compromise and marry a man she does not love. I was rooting all the way for Fanny to snare her Edmund. A Miramax release.
|