I have now seen all three versions of Mansfield Park, and having also read the book, I am qualified in my opinion of the book having never been done anything close to justice in movie form. The version that came closest is fairly old, with bad coloring, horribly unattractive characters and a Fanny that rather annoyed me. Then there was the newest version aired on TV with slightly more attractive actors and actresses, but not as close to the book as the old version (which, despite it's other faults, was certainly diligent in following Jane Austen's storyline). And then there's the version we just watched tonight. Besides the fact that I have a lingering annoyance for Frances O'Connor from her performance in "The Importance of Being Earnest," the screen writer managed to mutilate Fanny's character enough by herself. Not to mention obviously being a feminist and mutilating the entire movie.
I wish Andrew Davies would do a Mansfield Park. He's done my favorite versions of "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Prejudice," and I really liked "Northanger Abbey," "Bleak House," "Wives and Daughters," and "Emma." (Although my favorite version of "Emma" is still the one with Gwyneth Paltrow.) If only he would do "Persuasion" and "Mansfield Park" then one could have an entire Jane Austen movie collection that are almost equal to her novels.
There is hope...
~Lizzie
Timothy's Twelfth Month!
5 years ago
2 random thoughts:
I like all of Jane Austen's other books a lot, but Fanny annoyed me in the book. She was sort of like an older Elsie Dinsmore. Maybe I need to re-read it, though...
Yeah, Mansfield Park isn't one of my favorites either...Fanny was a little too naive, but mostly I never liked Edmund very much. He was too easily caught by Miss Crawford for one thing.
All the same, they should make a good version of it...the most recent one wasn't too bad, I guess. And I never saw the feminist one.
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