Friday 12 April 2013

Mansfield Park

director: Patricia Rozema
year: 1999
with: Frances O' Connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Harold Pinter, etc.

story: England in the 1800s, Fanny Price is being send away from her poor family to live with her wealthy relations at "Mansfield Park". She grows up with the four children there, developes a talent in writing and becomes close friends with Edmund, the younger son. Then the charming Henry Crawford turns up...


what I liked: can't think of anything...:-/
what I didn't like: The setting is completely dark and lacklustre. Not one of the actors offers anything worth getting crazy about. Don't know if big subjects like slavery or the underlying homosexual tension between Fanny and Mary Crawford really need to be in a film if you only mention them but have no intention to bring them to some sort of conclusion. Maybe I should read the novel soon so I have reasons to dislike this adaption even more so...or not as "Mansfield Park" is the least adored of all Austen novels anyway.

verdict: Boring, dull and a waste of time. Maybe not every Jane Austen film adaption should be all sunny and sweet but this is a real turn-off. It's a Rosamunde Pilcher film minus the beauty.

1 comment: