Mansfield Park

Frances O'Connor Director: Patricia Rozema Patricia Rozema

Overview

Freely adapted from a novel by Jane Austen, this period drama is set in the early 1800s, as a girl named Fanny (Hannah Taylor Gordon) is being raised by loving but desperately poor parents. Wanting a better life for Fanny, they send her away to live with her aunts, high-minded Mrs. Norris (Sheila Gish) and drug-addicted Lady Bertram (Lindsay Duncan), who share an estate called Mansfield Park. Fanny joins the family at Mansfield Park, which includes Lady Bertram's husband Sir Thomas (Harold Pinter), who made his money in slaves and West Indian plantations; Sir Thomas's son Tom (James Purefoy), an alcoholic; Tom's intelligent younger brother Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller); and his two sisters, Julia (Justine Waddell) and Maria (Victoria Hamilton). Fanny soon makes friends with Edmund, though she's shown little respect by the rest of the family. In time, Fanny grows to adulthood (now played by Frances O'Connor) and gains skill and poise as a horsewoman while developing her skills as an author. When the stylish but secretive siblings Henry and Mary Crawford (Alassandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz) arrive at Mansfield Park, romantic sparks begin to fly; the two sisters fight over Henry, while Mary is soon engaged to wed Edmund -- to the disappointment of Fanny, who has fallen in love with him.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/17/2011
UPC:	0031398137740
Original Release:	1998
Source:	Miramax Lionsgate
Region Code:	1
Time:	1:52:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Frances O'Connor	Fanny Price
Jonny Lee Miller	Edmund Bertram
Alessandro Nivola	Henry Crawford
Embeth Davidtz	Mary Crawford
Harold Pinter	Sir Thomas Bertram
Lindsay Duncan	Lady Bertram/Mrs.Price
Sheila Gish	Mrs. Norris
James Purefoy	Tom Bertram
Hugh Bonneville	Mr. Rushworth
Justine Waddell	Julia Bertram
Victoria Hamilton	Maria Bertram
Sophia Myles	Susan
Hilton McRae	Mr. Price
Hannah Taylor-Gordon	Young Fanny
Charles Edwards	Yates

Technical Credits

Patricia Rozema

Patricia Rozema	Director,Screenwriter
Michael Coulter	Cinematographer
Andrea Galer	Costumes/Costume Designer
Christopher Hobbs	Production Designer
Martin Walsh	Editor
Bob Weinstein	Executive Producer
Harvey Weinstein	Executive Producer
Peter Glossop	Sound/Sound Designer
David M. Thompson	Executive Producer
Lesley Barber	Score Composer
Gail Stevens	Casting
Trea Hoving	Executive Producer
Mary Soan	Asst. Director
Sarah Curtis	Producer
Andrew Munro	Art Director
Veronica Brebner	Makeup
Colin Leventhal	Executive Producer
David Aukin	Executive Producer
Allon Reich	Associate Producer
Jane Austen	Source Author

Scene Index

Chapter Selection
0. Chapter Selection
1. Opening Credits/The Journey To Mansfield Park [5:18]
2. Fanny Arrives [5:18]
3. The Grand Tour [:33]
4. The History Of The World [3:41]
5. Horsing Around [3:34]
6. Updating Susie [1:34]
7. The Highly-Sought-After Crawfords [2:07]
8. A Home Theatrical [1:39]
9. Beauty Is More Than Skin-Deep [4:53]
10. How Flirting Leads To Marriage [10:37]
11. The Importance Of Men And Music [4:52]
12. The Ball [5:13]
13. Plans For The Future [4:13]
14. Refusing To Marry [3:32]
15. Fanny Returns Home [2:29]
16. Updating Fanny [6:26]
17. An Early-Morning Surprise [5:14]
18. Mr. Crawford Comes For Fanny [2:19]
19. Love Is In The Air [1:46]
20. Yes! I Will Marry You! [2:37]
21. A Change Of Heart [2:55]
22. Returning To Mansfield Park [1:50]
23. Everyone Returns To Care For Tom [2:32]
24. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words [3:44]
25. Love Can Be Confusing [3:38]
26. Maria And Mr. Crawford Run Off [2:13]
27. Mary Crawford's So-Called Plans [2:15]
28. Only Time Will Tell [1:58]
29. It Could Have Turned Out Differently, But It Didn't [6:30]
30. End Credits [2:14]

Menu

Main
   Menu Group #1 with 31 chapter(s) covering 01:51:45
Set Up
   Spoken Languages
   Captions
Bonus Material
   Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Patricia Rozema
      View the film with the audio commentary on
      View the film with the audio commentary off
   Production Featurette
   Theatrical Trailer
Preview Trailer
Play

Editorial Reviews

Director Patricia Rozema puts a refreshing spin on Jane Austen's most problematic novel by reconceiving its rather priggish heroine as a learned proto-feminist. Sent to live with her wealthy cousins, poor relation Fanny Price (Frances O'Connor) finds herself in an ideal situation to observe the upper-class marriage trade, allowing Rozema to foreground Austin's underlying theme of matrimony as slavery. Beautifully photographed by Michael Coulter, Mansfield Park has a strong sense of place, with each of the various locations an evocative representation of its occupants' inner lives. Although Fanny retains the unyielding moral code of the novel's heroine, the film alters her character by giving her livelier spirits and attributing to her bits of Austen's own writing, making her more palatable to the modern audience. The film benefits from an appealing performance by O'Connor, who heads a strong cast that includes an unsettlingly grotesque Harold Pinter and a charmingly self-involved Embeth Davidtz. By stripping away many of the novel's overlapping themes to focus on the slavery subtext, this provocative interpretation has a clarity and bite that the original's more subtle satire lacks.

Barnes & Noble - Amy Robinson

Director Patricia Rozema's adaptation of Mansfield Park boldly goes where no Jane Austen film has gone before: the present day. Though set in the early 19th century, the film infuses its central character, Fanny Price (Frances O'Connor), with modern values and social attitudes. Apparently, Rozema thought the Miss Price of Austen's 1814 novel was a bit tame for today's audiences -- too retiring, too demure, too prim and proper -- so she shades Fanny with touches of derring-do and feminine vitality. But Rozema goes too far when she has Fanny and Mary Crawford (Embeth Davidtz), a beautiful visitor to Mansfield Park, exchange subtle glances suggestive of wayward desire. Nothing happens, and these silly encounters (which were never included or even hinted at in Austen's novel) have little to do with the overall plot. Nevertheless, this version of Mansfield Park is highly engaging, mostly due to O'Connor's acting. She is wonderful and electric, radiating charisma and charm as she parries her way through upper-class snobbery to prove that character comes from the soul, not social standing. In spite of Rozema's revisionism, there is enough of Austen in the film to please fans of drawing-room drama. For example, her cousins Julia (Justine Waddell) and Maria (Victoria Hamilton) are typical Austen featherbrains who want only one thing: a husband. In addition, her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram (Harold Pinter), and aunt, Mrs. Norris (Sheila Gish), sternly adhere to the conventions of the day about marriage and a woman's place in society -- in particular, Fanny's lowly place in their high society. Then there's Mary Crawford (Davidtz), a typical Austin gold digger who means to marry Sir Thomas' son Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller), an earnest ministerial candidate who is in love with Fanny but doesn't know it.

All Movie Guide - Mike Cummings