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Rating:  - LOVE IT
Mansfield Park I a geat show about a girl who goes to live with her astranged relatives. The never really treat her with any sort of respect. From the beginning Fanny (the main character) is in love with the only person in the house who actually does have respect for her. But as always in a good story you have to have opposition and there is plenty in this story. Fanny has to deal with lazy drunken boy cousins, easy jelous girl cousins, and neighbors who are some of both. In the end well... you will have to watch to find out
Rating: - it passes muster
For those of you who absolutely loved Mansfield Park, the book, and are hopeless Jane Austen purists this movie will probably disappoint you. If on the other hand, you are like me and are a devoted fan of Jane Austen and a purist about everything else Jane Austen, yet for some reason you didn't especially love Mansfield Park, then you will enjoy this movie. The main characters, Fanny, Edmund, Henry, and Mariah, are extremely well cast and are very good actors and actresses. Fanny's character is a fair bit more decided and strong than in the book, but I was always inclined to think her a little lacking in spine. It follows the main storyline fairly well, only getting a few things at the end rearranged.One thing that they brought into this movie which I wasn't sure belonged in a Jane Austen movie was a sort of abolitionist view point on Edmund, Fanny and Tom's part. Though it was very true that the Bertram's lived off of the slave's labor in in Antigua this aspect of the movie didn't really make it feel period to me, it felt more like it was set in the 1800's.
So, If you were like me and thought that the book drug on for ever and wrapped up in the last chapter,then you will probably enjoy this movie.
Rating: - A Disappointing Success?
If one knows the novel, one supposes this to be a major disappointment. I will leave it to those in the know to make the final judgment of this movie as an accurate interpretation of the original. As a post-modern deconstruction, that is, as a director's version, if you will, of the original, it seems to me this can be evaluated on its own terms. Does it work? Is it entertaining? Is it enlightening? To these question, my answer is yes. I found the explicit references to the slave trade valid if not faithful to Austen. This is a 20th century artist's take on an injustice wrongly neglected. Tying the English country life to the source of its wealth strikes me as valid. Dramatically, it works as an explanation for the son's torment and for the father's guilt. Harold Pinter, by the way, is fantastic. The Nobel-winning playwright makes a rare appearance, offering a wonderful glimpse into this fine actor's talents. I found all of the performances convincing. I especially loved seeing Lindsey Duncan playing two roles, that of the wayward sister, strapped with a loser husband and a house full of crying babies and that of the aristocratic drug addict lying about the country house being waited on hand and foot. No doubt there will be a better version one day, but this one does a fine job of drawing modern audiences to what must be the director's chief claim, which is that Austen is an exciting author worthy of multiple interpretations.
Rating:  - ok movie
I purchased this because I like Jane Austin movies. It is a good movie. I was disappointed with the sexual content. It could have been much less - because of it there are several of my friends that I would not recommend this movie to.
Rating:  - terrible
I would have given this zero stars if I could. This is a travesty of Jane Austen - it has little to do with her and more to do with the inanities of the box office.
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