Mansfield Park (1999)

At 10, Fanny Price, a poor relation, goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband, Sir Thomas. Clever, studious, and a writer with an ironic imagination and fine moral ... See full summary »

Director:

Patricia Rozema

Writers:

Jane Austen (novel), Patricia Rozema

Stars:

Hannah Taylor Gordon, Frances O'Connor, Jonny Lee Miller

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hannah Taylor Gordon	...	Young Fanny
Talya Gordon	...	Young Susan
Lindsay Duncan	...	Mrs. Price / Lady Bertram
Bruce Byron	...	Carriage Driver
James Purefoy	...	Tom Bertram
Sheila Gish	...	Mrs. Norris
Harold Pinter	...	Sir Thomas Bertram
Elizabeth Eaton	...	Young Maria
Elizabeth Earl	...	Young Julia
Philip Sarson	...	Young Edmond
Amelia Warner	...	Teenage Fanny
Frances O'Connor	...	Fanny Price
Jonny Lee Miller	...	Edmund Bertram
Victoria Hamilton	...	Maria Bertram
Hugh Bonneville	...	Mr. Rushworth

Storyline

At 10, Fanny Price, a poor relation, goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband, Sir Thomas. Clever, studious, and a writer with an ironic imagination and fine moral compass, she becomes especially close to Edmund, Thomas's younger son. Fanny is soon possessed of beauty as well as a keen mind and comes to the attention of a neighbor, Henry Crawford. Thomas promotes this match, but to his displeasure, Fanny has a mind of her own, asking Henry to prove himself worthy. As Edmund courts Henry's sister and as light shines on the link between Thomas's fortunes and New World slavery, Fanny must assess Henry's character and assert her heart as well as her wit.

---

Plot Keywords:

slavery | estate | writer | neighbor | marriage between cousins | 

---

Taglines:

Jane Austen's Wicked Comedy

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief violent images, sexual content and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kasvattitytön tarina

Filming Locations:

St Austell, Cornwall, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£103,266 (UK) (31 March 2000)

Gross:

£103,266 (UK) (31 March 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arts Council of England, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), HAL Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Edmund Bertram in this version of Mansfield Park, played Fanny's young brother Charles Price in an earlier BBC mini series, Mansfield Park.

---

Goofs

The harp that Mary Crawford is playing is a double action harp. The double action harp was not invented until 1810, while the movie took place in 1806.

---

Quotes

Fanny Price: [referring to Henry Crawford] I do not trust him, sir.
Sir Thomas Bertram: What do you distrust?
Fanny Price: His nature, sir. Like many charming people, he conceals an almost absolute dependence on the appreciation of others.
Sir Thomas Bertram: And what is the terrible ill in that?
Fanny Price: His sole interest is in being loved, sir, not in loving.

---

Connections

Version of Mansfield Park (2007)

---

Soundtracks

"Djongna (Slavery)"
Written and Performed by Salif Keita

User Reviews

No thank you

Jane Austen's usual themes (love, snobbery, the place of women in society) are all addressed in this film of 'Mansfield Park', but fans of the book claim that the film is unfaithful to the original. Not having read it, I can't comment on that, but whereas I enjoyed Douglas McGrath's 'Emma' and Ang Lee's 'Sense and Sensibility' (both praised as faithful to their texts), 'Mansfield Park' is certainly less successful, losing coherence but gaining stridency compared to those works. In 'Emma', for example, the joy was in a precocious young heroine gradually learning that there were things she did not know; but haughty Fanny Price, the main character in this film, is always right, witty, invariably possessed of good judgment and anachronistic feminist attitudes - in other words, completely unbearable. Some of the dialogue seems similarly out of time, the young Fanny and her sister are inexplicably played by a couple of self-consciously adorable American kids, and audience is consistently encouraged to apply modern values to judge the characters. Other things also seem odd (Fanny has lived with the family for many years, but they continually treat her as if she had just arrived; the social placement of Fanny, her aunt and mother are never explained; and as Fanny and the leading male are mutually in love throughout the story, it's hard to see why it takes them a whole film to get together).

If one scene serves as a good example of what's wrong with this film, it's when Fanny catches a suitor in flagrante with another woman. Jane Austen wrote highly subtle dissections of the social structures around her, disguised in the form of acceptable romances - that's the merit of her work. The beauty of the story lies in the form of its telling. The absence of explicit sex from (some) old books isn't necessarily a failing, just as you don't necessarily improve a classic thriller by remaking it with bigger guns and louder explosions. It's a small scene, but one senses that director Roezma doesn't really understand her own material. A disappointment.