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| Mansfield Park [1999] [2000] | ![Mansfield Park [1999] [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AXXPQKDFL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Patricia Rozema
Actors: Frances O'connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Hannah Taylor-gordon, Talya Gordon
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £4.08
You Save: £11.91 (74%)
New (11) from £3.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 3583
Format: Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Running Time: 107 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5017188884334
ASIN: B00005U1XU
Theatrical Release Date: November 19, 1999
Release Date: June 15, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Patricia Rozema is a Canadian director with the nerve to helm smart, big budget movies, as she proves again in Mansfield Park. She had her first hit with the quirky I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) in which the heroine, a mouse among art gallery sharks, eventually comes into her own, surpassing the mentor who's risen on her back. Similarly, in Mansfield Park, adapted from Jane Austen's strongly autobiographical novel, penniless city mouse Fanny Price (Frances O'Connor) comes to live in a handsome country manor with the Bertrams, her heartless, class-conscious relations. After many cruel setbacks, Fanny manages, by dint of writing talent and moral integrity, to win the day and the love of her life Edmund (Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller). Unlike filmmakers who dress up Austen's money-driven world in sweetness and light, Rozema rubs our noses in the fact that the Bertrams' wealth flows from the blood and sweat of faraway slaves. The adaptation never euphemises the down-and-dirty slum life which has swallowed up Fanny's mother and threatens Fanny if she refuses to marry the handsome but hollow fortune hunter (Alessandro Nivola) chosen for her by her benefactors. Playwright Harold Pinter is compelling as Mansfield Park's patriarch, Sir Thomas Bertram, capable of kindness but stone-cold when his aristocratic will is crossed. Embeth Davidtz (playing Mary, the amoral sibling of Fanny's suitor, with wonderfully seductive verve) and O'Connor almost resemble each other--and they are sisters of a sort, each vying, according to her talents, in a stock market where women must parlay sex to stay alive. In this entertaining ride in the socioeconomic fast lane circa 1806, Jane Austen comes across as a full-blooded proto-feminist with savvy charm.--Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 Sorry, but I like it October 7, 2008
I have to say that I am astonished to see how poorly this film is rated by many other reviewers.
I've read a Jane Austen or two, but not Mansfield Park. Consequently, when I saw this film for the first time I thought it was great, and I still do because I still haven't read the book.
It's clear from reading the many other reviews that the makers of this film have greatly upset the Austen purists by substantially altering the story and characters and bringing in non-original elements such as the references to slavery, which anyone could guess was where the family money must have come from.
However, the fact remains that this is a very, very decent film in its own right. Frances O' Connor's Fanny Price - whether she resembles her namesake in Austen's Mansfield Park or not - is a typically strong, sparky, intelligent Austen heroine in the mould of Elizabeth Bennett, and I like her all the more for that. As I write this, the price of the DVD seems to have been reduced from the usual double figure sum to around five pounds or so - if you haven't read the book and you probably never will, buy this DVD, watch it, and enjoy it - I promise you will.
 Instead of changing the story, they should have changed the title. June 9, 2008
I had seen this film a few times without reading the book. I didn't know the story so thought it was a really lovely film and enjoyed the cinematography and acting. I was quite happy to watch it a couple of times after that
Then, recently I bought the Complete Works of Jane Austin and finally read and enjoyed the book. It had been a while since I saw the film, so dug it out again. This time I was horrified as to what they had actually done with it!! Whoever wrote the script, they may as well have started from scratch and then claimed the glory for themselves!! There were so many things wrong in this film that it drove me to distraction. What's the deal with the slavery? The sex scene that Fanny Price walks in on? Fanny's engagement??? The fiesty heroine, rather than a timid little mouse!! And numerous other things that I could not believe. My whole enjoyment for the film was gone.
So, if you intend to watch this film, DO NOT, whatever you do, read the book first. Then you might enjoy it!!!
 An Intriguing adaptation February 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Reading the reviews submitted on the topic of Jane Austen novels, I wonder why so much criticism is directed toward a film's total adherence to every aspect of her books. I have all her novels, and read them periodically and know the stories as she wrote them. I find it interesting to see the various features, within her stories, used by producers to try and interpret how she wanted her characters to come across to her readers. Whatever form of interpretation is offered by whatever producer, it will never satisfy everyone as the script writers have to be selective as well as inventive because of the film's time-scale. For me, any production of her work simply immortalises Jane Austen novels still more. When the need arises that I want to relive the originality of her stories, I open her books in my collection. I enjoyed this film adaptation of Mansfield Park and felt Frances O' Conner's portrayal of Fanny Price, quite entrancing, though a little more assertive than previous adaptations, and perhaps there, strayed a little from how the character comes across in the book. I was intrigued to see Edmund played by Johnny Lee Miller; a part that was worlds away from the Hackers character he played in the mid nineties. I found his performance convinced me of his brotherly relationship with Fanny, gradually mutating to a romantic conclusion. On the whole I felt this production worthy to enter my collection alongside the many other versions of Mansfield Park in it.
 Actually worth no stars at all January 10, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If film producers want to make a film about a feisty young girl in Regency times (and I'm sure there were lots) who goes to live with rich relatives who are only rich because they exploit the slave trade and then marries the younger son of the household ... I'm sure they could do so without pretending they are filming a Jane Austen book.
Everything about this film offended me, from the casting to the storyline. It was all wrong.
Maybe I want too much. After all, the novel itself is a very different one to P&P or S&S, but even so, it has a quiet delicate charm that is entirely missing from this film.
If you are a 'Janeite', don't waste your time watching this.
If you really don't care what film makers do to books as long as they make it look nice, go ahead - but don't expect to be watching 'Mansfield Park' because you won't be.
I would like to say to film-makers, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - if you want to film a classic novel, at least please try to make it authentic and faithful to the original.
What happened to Jane's version? December 3, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Whilst I understand that films need a large audience to make profits, what a shame they polluted this wonderful novel so much in this adeptation.
Not only were so many key scences deleted in the film but portrayl of Fanny was so far removed from Jane Austen's account. Fanny was portrayed as far too outspoken and physically energetic, there appeared to be no real reference to her delicate health problems which are important in building her real character and disposition. On the one point that Fanny is assertive (though inwardly), that being her fustration and anger towards both Mary Crawford and Edmund with regard to their unsettled plans for marriage, is completely missing from the film. This is such a shame because given the extent of her love for Edmund, it decieves the film audience into thinking Fanny is all acceptance and therefore 'inconsistent', one of her greatest abhorrances.
A gross misrepresentation in the film is the bannishing of Fanny from Mansfield on her refusal to accept Henry Crawfords proposal of marriage. This is such a shame becasuse the novel shows that Sir Thomas Bertram is acutally quite fond of Fanny and understanding of her, whilst the film portrays him as harsh and without any feeling for her, and with every intention of her never returning to Mansfield as his wife's companion.
Overall, it is a good film but for those of us who love Jane Austen's writings, it is very dissapointing to see the film so unlike the book in too many ways.
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