The director, Patricia Rozema, may be cynically catering to a non-white audience. Or her point may be that, regardless of race, poor women are forced into bad situations. In Jane Austen films, women are portrayed as both virtuous and romantic, intelligent and beautiful. They are, however, still dependent on men economically and romantically. Daughters are often forced into marriages to sustain the family wealth.
Women have difficulty marrying the men they love because said men are poor.
Mansfield Park pushes feminist issues further than other Jane Austen movies. There is a hint that Fanny s sister is being molested by her father. The film makers also flirt with lesbianism, but shy away from the liaison. They end up making the would-be lesbian unsympathetic. The movie is well acted by a cast of unknowns.