Mansfield Park (1999 film)

Last updated

Mansfield Park
Mansfield park.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Patricia Rozema
Screenplay byPatricia Rozema
Based on Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
Produced bySarah Curtis
Starring
Cinematography Michael Coulter
Edited by Martin Walsh
Music by Lesley Barber
Production
companies
Distributed by Buena Vista International
Release dates
  • 19 November 1999 (1999-11-19)(United States)
  • 3 March 2000 (2000-03-03)(United Kingdom)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$4,764,741 [2]

Mansfield Park is a 1999 British romantic comedy-drama film based on Jane Austen's 1814 novel of the same name, written and directed by Patricia Rozema. The film departs from the original novel in several respects. For example, the life of Jane Austen is incorporated into the film, as are the issues of slavery and West Indian plantations. The majority of the film was filmed on location at Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire. [3]

Contents

Plot

At the age of 10, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. Once at Mansfield Park, Fanny meets her cousins Tom, Maria, Edmund and Julia, as well as Fanny's other maternal aunt, Mrs Norris. Fanny does not feel welcome, and Mrs Norris treats her more like a servant than a relative. Edmund behaves kindly to her and the two develop a friendship that grows as the years progress.

Charlestown harbour doubled as the Portsmouth home of the Price family Ships in Charlestown harbour (5366).jpg
Charlestown harbour doubled as the Portsmouth home of the Price family

When Fanny is eighteen, Sir Thomas and his eldest son Tom travel to Antigua. In their absence, the Bertram family is disrupted by the arrival of Henry and Mary Crawford, relatives of the local clergyman. Worldly, cynical and beautiful, Mary and Henry arrive looking for amusement. Edmund is instantly smitten with Mary, somewhat ignoring and hurting Fanny. Maria and Julia both vie for Henry's affections, even though Maria is already engaged to Mr Rushworth. Later, Tom returns from Antigua, arriving drunk and bringing a friend, Mr Yates, with him. Yates and Tom convince the Bertrams and Crawfords to stage the risqué play Lovers' Vows , a play that allows the young people to openly flirt with each other. Edmund initially speaks out against the play but changes his mind when he is offered a part that allows him to act out intimate scenes with Mary. Sir Thomas arrives home and in anger immediately stops the rehearsals.

Maria marries Rushworth, esteeming his fortune above his character. Henry decides to pursue Fanny as a means to amuse himself. However, Fanny's gentle and kind nature gradually captures his fancy, and Henry becomes emotionally attached to her. After his behaviour towards the Bertram girls, Fanny mistrusts him and does not believe his declarations of love. Even so, Henry proposes and Fanny is pressured by her uncle to accept the offer; she disappoints the family by refusing. Angry, Sir Thomas gives Fanny an ultimatum: accept Henry's proposal of marriage or be sent back to her poor family and experience the difference in comfort. Fanny looks to Edmund for support, but his silence forces her to choose the latter. Several days after her return home, Henry pays a visit to convince Fanny that his affections for her are genuine. Although she looks more favourably on him, Fanny continues to cling to her feelings for Edmund and rejects Henry. Only when a letter from Edmund arrives which discloses his hopes of marrying Mary does Fanny accept Henry's offer. However, Fanny takes back her acceptance the next day. Henry leaves, hurt and angry. Later Edmund arrives to take Fanny back to Mansfield Park to help care for Tom, who has fallen seriously ill and is near death. Edmund confesses he has missed Fanny.

Henry gains Maria's pity when she learns of Fanny's refusal of his marriage proposal and they are found in bed together by Fanny and Edmund. Shocked, Fanny is comforted by Edmund and the two nearly kiss, but Edmund pulls away. News of the scandal spreads rapidly and Mary quickly devises a plan to stifle the repercussions. She suggests that, after a divorce, Maria would marry Henry while Edmund would marry Mary; together they might re-introduce Henry and Maria back into society by throwing parties. Fanny questions how Mary, as a clergyman's wife, could afford lavish parties, and Mary shocks everyone by stating that if Tom dies, Edmund will be heir to the family's fortune. Edmund is appalled and tells Mary that cheerfully condemning Tom to death whilst she plans to spend his money sends a chill to his heart. Having betrayed her true nature to the Bertram family, Mary leaves their company.

Edmund ultimately declares his love for Fanny, and they marry. Sir Thomas gives up his plantation in Antigua and invests instead in tobacco, while Tom recovers from his illness. Fanny's sister Susie joins them at the Bertram household while Maria and Aunt Norris take up residence in a small cottage removed from Mansfield Park.

Cast

Differences from novel

David Monaghan argues that viewers should approach Rozema's Mansfield Park as 'an independent work of art rather than an adaptation of Austen's novel'. [5] Rozema set out her goal firmly, saying that Mansfield Park was not a Jane Austen film: 'It's a Patricia Rozema film. My job as an artist is to provide a fresh view.' [5] Paula Byrne commends Rozema for an audacious film "that eschews the heritage-style whimsy of the conventional period drama". She argues that in its deployment of feminist, gender and post-colonial themes, it recognises the contribution of more recent academic literary criticism of Austen's works, and "provides a fascinating shadow story to this most complex of novels". [5]

The film differs from the Jane Austen novel Mansfield Park in several ways. The film changes some central characters, eliminates several others, and reorganises certain events. The result is a film that retains the core of character evolution and events of Austen's novel, but in other ways, stresses its themes and ideas differently. The plot changes the moral message of Austen's novel, making the story a critique of slavery rather than, as some critics understand it, a conservative critique. [6] While in the novel Fanny's passivity and moral stance are represented as virtues, these aspects of her character are altered in the film. The exception is in the staging of Lovers' Vows when Fanny abstains. [7] [8]

Slavery

Austen's novel mentions slavery on several occasions but does not elaborate on it. Most notably, in the novel, Fanny asks a question about the slave trade to Sir Thomas and is not answered. The film includes slavery as a central plot point, including explicit descriptions of the treatment of slaves (e.g. Fanny finds violent drawings of the treatment of slaves in Tom's room) and numerous reminders of how the Bertram family's wealth is built on slavery.

The role and influence of slavery in the world of Mansfield Park is emphasized from the start of the film. Fanny sees a slave ship near the coast on her initial journey to the family, asks her coachman about it and receives an explanation.

The Australian historian Keith Windschuttle criticised Rozema for adding in this scene, not in the book, concerning the part where Fanny hears terrible cries from a ship off the coast and is told it is a slave ship bringing in its human cargo to Portsmouth. Windschuttle notes that slaves were never brought to British shores. [9] The essence of the triangular trade was that after the ships had transported the enslaved captives from Africa to the Caribbean, they would return to Europe loaded only with sugar and tobacco. Then, leaving Europe, they would return to Africa, loaded with manufactured goods. A parallel is drawn between Fanny's role as a woman and a poor relative in the Bertram family, and the role of the enslaved.

Tom Bertram's return from Antigua is motivated by his disgust with what he has seen there, and this disgust is reinforced by a journal that Fanny finds at Mansfield Park recounting apparently criminal events occurring in Antigua that involve Sir Thomas.

At the end of the film a voiceover also informs the viewer that Sir Thomas has divested himself of his estates in Antigua, presumably as a form of redemption.

The character of Fanny Price

Rozema employs "a collage or prismatic-like approach" in her adaptation of Fanny's character, incorporating elements of Jane Austen's character in order to update the "annoying" character for a contemporary audience. [7] [10] Rozema's modification of the character of Fanny Price, whom she considered an unpopular heroine, was to add colour and spirit by conflating her with the character of Austen herself, drawing upon her extensive juvenilia and letters. [5] In the novel, Fanny is very shy and timid, and generally reluctant to give her own opinion. Her physical condition is frail, making her tire easily. In the film, in contrast, Fanny is extroverted, self-confident, and outspoken, while also being physically healthier.

In addition, the film version of Fanny is portrayed as a writer from her childhood into her adulthood at Mansfield Park. These character traits are incorporated directly from the life of Jane Austen – some of Fanny's writings are actually Austen's, including the "History of England".

Monaghan takes issue with Rozema's depiction of Fanny's 'enlightened attitudes towards issues of gender, class and race'. He sees this as trendy liberal humanism that seeks to make the awkward heroine more acceptable to a modern audience. This view is considered enigmatic by some as others assert that both Austen and Fanny share enlightened attitudes towards gender, class and race. In the novel, it is the hard-working, ill-educated lower-class Price children who are the victors. [5] Fanny alone resists the power of the landed gentry, defying both the awesome patriarch, Sir Thomas Bertram, and the manipulative seducer, Henry Crawford.

Overt references to sexuality

This adaptation modernises the chaste, virtuous story by including several references to sexuality. The first instance, Fanny's discovery of Maria and Henry Crawford in clandestine sexual activity during a rehearsal of Lover's Vows, is not included in the book, where the flirtation is far more subtle. [7] Secondly, Mary Crawford's frequent sensual touches and lingering gazes on Fanny convey a homoerotic tension with little textual support. [7] Rozema claimed the "lesbian frisson" was "definitely in the book," arising from Miss Crawford's worldly character, though admitted she chose Mansfield Park because she "knew she could indulge herself in a couple of scenes." [11]

Other character changes

The parson Dr. Grant, and his wife, the Crawfords' half-sister Mrs. Grant, do not feature in the film. Fanny's close relationship with her brother William in the book is mostly replaced in the film by her relationship with her younger sister Susan, with whom, in the novel, Fanny does not develop a relationship until her return to Portsmouth. As well, the character of Sir Thomas is portrayed in a much more negative light. In the book, Sir Thomas is much more caring, principled, and remorseful of the way his daughters were raised. Also in the book, Tom Bertram gains sense after his illness, and ceases to live a careless, selfish life.

Plot changes

Fanny's banishment to Portsmouth is characterised as a punishment by a vengeful Sir Thomas rather than as a much more subtle and manipulative ploy expressed partly as a respite from stress following Henry Crawford's unwelcome attentions. In the novel, Fanny is never tempted to accept Mr. Crawford's proposals, whereas in the film, Fanny accepts, then repudiates, Henry Crawford's offer of marriage, and her family has full knowledge of it. (This is taken from Austen's own history when she accepted a proposal of marriage from a man she had known since childhood, only to retract her acceptance the next day).

In the novel, Fanny remains at Portsmouth for several months, whereas in the film she returns to Mansfield Park much earlier in order to nurse Tom Bertram back to health. This makes her witness to the events that follow. In the film, Maria's adulterous liaison with Mr. Crawford occurs at Mansfield Park instead of in London; in the novel, Maria leaves her husband's London house to run away with Crawford.

In the novel, the revelation of Maria's adulterous affair, including Mary's casual attitude towards it, occurs through letters (including from Mary to Fanny) and from later reported conversations; in the film the affair is carried on at Mansfield Park in full view of the family.

In the novel, the shock to the Mansfield family is increased by Julia Bertram's elopement with Mr Yates; in the film Julia remains at home, later receiving a love letter from Mr Yates.

Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire doubled as Mansfield Park Gretton, UK - panoramio (20).jpg
Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire doubled as Mansfield Park

Reception

Mansfield Park has received generally favourable reviews from critics. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 77% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 69 reviews, with an average score of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Solid performances, bold direction." [12] On Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 71 based on 31 reviews. [13]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a four-star review, saying, "This is an uncommonly intelligent film, smart and amusing too, and anyone who thinks it is not faithful to Austen doesn't know the author but only her plots." [14] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly also gave the film a positive review, dubbing it as "a handsome and forceful piece of work" and praising O'Connor's ability to display the "quiet battle of emotions in Fanny." [15]

Andrew Johnston of Time Out New York wrote: "Grafting incidents gleaned from Jane Austen's journals and letters onto the story of the author's third novel, Rozema captures the writer's combination of prickly wit and hopeless romanticism as few filmmakers have. ... You may be able to see Mansfield Park's ending coming from a mile away, but it's so beautifully constructed and dramatically satisfying when it arrives that you probably won't mind at all." [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Austen</span> English novelist (1775–1817)

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

<i>Sense and Sensibility</i> 1811 novel by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is the first novel by the English author Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne as they come of age. They have an older half-brother, John, and a younger sister, Margaret.

<i>Persuasion</i> (novel) 1818 novel by Jane Austen

Persuasion is the last novel completed by the English author Jane Austen. It was published on 20 December 1817, along with Northanger Abbey, six months after her death, although the title page is dated 1818.

<i>Mansfield Park</i> 1814 novel by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park is the third published novel by the English author Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews until 1821.

<i>Mansfield Park</i> (1983 TV serial) 1983 British television drama series

Mansfield Park is a 1983 British television drama serial, made by the BBC, and adapted from Jane Austen's 1814 novel of the same name. The serial was the first screen adaptation of the novel. Unlike Patricia Rozema's 1999 film, it is faithful to Jane Austen's novel. Jonny Lee Miller, who has a small role as Charles Price in this serial, played Edmund Bertram in Rozema's adaptation.

<i>Mansfield Park</i> (2007 film) 2007 television film directed by Iain B. MacDonald

Mansfield Park is a 2007 British television film directed by Iain B. MacDonald and starring Billie Piper, Michelle Ryan, and Blake Ritson. Adapted from Jane Austen's classic 1814 novel of the same name, the film is about Fanny Price, who is sent by her poor mother to live with wealthy relatives at their Mansfield estate. By the age of eighteen, Fanny is in love with her sensitive cousin who is studying to be a clergyman. Her feelings for him and her moral sense prevent her from accepting a marriage proposal from a much wealthier suitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reception history of Jane Austen</span> History of reviews and reputation of works by the English author

The reception history of Jane Austen follows a path from modest fame to wild popularity. Jane Austen (1775–1817), the author of such works as Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1815), has become one of the best-known and most widely read novelists in the English language. Her novels are the subject of intense scholarly study and the centre of a diverse fan culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Austen in popular culture</span> Jane Austen novels adapted to theatre, film, and television

The author Jane Austen and her works have been represented in popular culture in a variety of forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fanny Price</span> Fictional character

Frances "Fanny" Price is the heroine in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park. The novel begins when Fanny's overburdened, impoverished family—where she is both the second-born and the eldest daughter out of 10 children—sends her at the age of ten to live in the household of her wealthy uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, and his family at Mansfield Park. The novel follows her growth and development, concluding in early adulthood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Crawford</span> Fictional character

Henry Crawford is one of the main characters in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park. He is depicted as a man who, though not conventionally handsome, has great charisma. He is lively, witty and charming, a great asset at dinner parties, and admired by nearly all. Henry and his sister bring a fresh energy to the rather dour and oppressive atmosphere of Mansfield Park. At Sotherton his potential for disruption begins to emerge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Bertram</span> Fictional character

Edmund Bertram is a lead character in Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. He is Sir Thomas's second son and plans to be ordained as a clergyman. He falls in love with Mary Crawford who constantly challenges his vocation. Edmund goes ahead with ordination. At the end of the novel he marries Fanny Price.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Bertram</span> Fictional character

Maria Bertram is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park.

Tom Bertram is a supporting character in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park. He is the elder son and heir of Sir Thomas Bertram, a baronet and wealthy landowner in Northamptonshire, who also owns an estate in Antigua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Crawford (Mansfield Park)</span> Fictional character

Mary Crawford is a major character in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park. Mary is depicted as attractive, caring and charismatic. The reader is gradually shown, often through the eyes of Fanny Price, a hidden, darker side to Mary's personality. Her wit disguises her superficiality and her charisma disguises her self-centredness. Edmund Bertram, an earnest young man and destined for the clergy falls deeply in love with her. Only at the end of the novel does reality overcome his romantic fantasies and he leaves her with deep regret.

Jane Austen's (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and Gothic novels. Austen extends her critique by highlighting social hypocrisy through irony; she often creates an ironic tone through free indirect speech in which the thoughts and words of the characters mix with the voice of the narrator. The degree to which critics believe Austen's characters have psychological depth informs their views regarding her realism. While some scholars argue that Austen falls into a tradition of realism because of her finely executed portrayal of individual characters and her emphasis on "the everyday", others contend that her characters lack a depth of feeling compared with earlier works, and that this, combined with Austen's polemical tone, places her outside the realist tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgian society in Jane Austen's novels</span>

Georgian society in Jane Austen's novels is the ever-present background of her work, the world in which all her characters are set. Entirely situated during the reign of George III, the novels of Jane Austen describe their characters' everyday lives, joys, sorrows, and loves, providing insight into the period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza de Feuillide</span> 18th and 19th-century English sister-in-law of Jane Austen

Eliza Capot, Comtesse de Feuillide was the cousin, and later sister-in-law, of novelist Jane Austen. She is believed to have been the inspiration for a number of Austen's works, such as Love and Freindship, Henry and Eliza, and Lady Susan. She may have also been the model from whom the character of Mary Crawford is derived.

Mansfield Park is a 2011 chamber opera in two acts by Jonathan Dove with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton based on the 1814 novel by Jane Austen. Initially composed for four handed piano, it has been set to music for 13 piece orchestral ensemble. It tells the story of poor relation Fanny Price, sent at age 10 to live with her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, at his family estate, Mansfield Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Rushworth</span> Fictional character

Mr. James Rushworth is a character from Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. Mansfield Park is about a young girl, Fanny Price, who goes to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams. The novel follows the familial life and social circle of the Bertrams. Rushworth is part of this circle. He is the son of Mrs. Rushworth and has inherited Sotherton Estate. He has 12,000 pounds a year, which makes him a very eligible bachelor. He is the fiance of Maria Bertram who is the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Bertram. His dull-witted character is in parallel to another 'Austen' character, Mr William Collins, from Pride and Prejudice.

<i>Old Friends and New Fancies</i> Unauthorized sequel to the novels of Jane Austen

Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen (1913) is a novel by Sybil G. Brinton that is often acknowledged to be the first sequel to the works of Jane Austen and as such is possibly the first piece of published Austen fan fiction, although earlier examples have been described by Sarah Glosson. It incorporates characters from each of Austen's six major novels into one unified story, alongside characters of Brinton's own invention. Keeping to the spirit of the source novels, its major theme is the difficulties faced by assorted pairs of lovers placed within the class structure of early 19th century Britain.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mansfield Park (2000)". British Film Institute (BFI). Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Mansfield Park (1999) – Financial Information". The Numbers . Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  3. ↑ End credits of the DVD edition
  4. ↑ Filming at Poldark harbour Charlestown in pictures, by Shannon Hards, 19 September 2018, retrieved 15 August 2021
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Byrne, Paula (2017)The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Is a Hit in Hollywood. ch.11, HarperCollins, Kindle ed.
  6. ↑ "Austen vs. Rozema: Slavery In Mansfield Park 1999 – Silhouette Magazine". Silhouette Magazine. 1 April 2012. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Nora Foster Stovel". jasna.org. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "Kathi Groenendyk". jasna.org. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Windschuttle, Keith (May 2000). "Rewriting The History of the British Empire". The New Criterion. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "Possessing Jane Austen: Fidelity, Authorship, and Patricia Rozema's Mansfield Park (1999)". connection.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 14 March 2018.[ dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Womansfield Park". Xtra. 17 November 1999. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Mansfield Park (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 12 December 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Mansfield Park Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Ebert, Roger (24 November 1999). "Mansfield Park Movie Review & Film Summary (1999)". Chicago Sun-Times . Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  15. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (19 November 1999). "Movie Review: Mansfield Park (1999)". Entertainment Weekly . CNN. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  16. ↑ Time Out New York, 18–25 November 1999, p. 121.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.