Rent Mansfield Park (1999)

A very free adaptation - Mansfield Park review by SB

This adaptation has many virtues, but is so far from the original that it might be best described as 'inspired by' Jane Austen's lengthy novel. In order to get down to feature film length, important themes of the book such as landscape and its relationship to literature are omitted in order to concentrate on the core love story alongside the issue of slavery, which assumes a greater prominence here than in the novel. Some characters are also omitted. The script sets a light satirical mood which helps keep the pace up, including a dash of sex Austen would have blushed over - although curiously, the notorious double-entendre Austen did write is excluded.

The settings are good, including the Portsmouth hovel Fanny comes from, and the performances are well worth seeing, especially Harold Pinter, in a rare outing as an actor, in the paterfamilias role of Sir Thomas Bertram. Jonny Lee Miller makes Edmund more personable than is sometimes the case, and the Crawfords have the requisite swagger. Frances O'Connor is a bit of a problem; she is very good, but too old, too feisty and too attractive. She is not Fanny Price, but it isn't her fault.