Mansfield Park

Plot synopsis:
At the age of 10, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, as her own parents do not have enough money to support their many children. 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 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.
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. Henry shamelessly flirts with Maria. 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 a risque play, Lovers' Vows. The play 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 flirtatious scenes with Mary. Sir Thomas arrives home, and in anger immediately stops the play.
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 distrusts 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 indifference 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 realizes she does not trust him, and takes back her acceptance the next day. Henry leaves, exceedingly hurt and angry. 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 together they succumb to their lust. The affair is discovered by Fanny and Edmund. Shocked, Fanny is comforted by Edmund and the two nearly kiss, but he remembers himself and 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. Fanny questions Mary as to how a clergyman could afford lavish parties, and Mary shocks everyone by stating that when 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, a shamed Mary leaves the Bertrams' 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 also mentions that her younger sister Susie has joined them at the Bertram household while Maria and Aunt Norris take up residence in a small cottage removed from Mansfield Park.

Tags: romantic

Review:
It stayed very faithful to the book and unlike a few of the other reviews I read here, I did not find it at all dull nor did i find the acting lacking in any fashion.
That being said, the 1983 Mansfield Park still has a distinctive on-location look and the cast is uniformly strong - Sylvestra Le Touzel has just the right mix of prettiness and austerity and Nicholas Farrell is excellent as Edmund.Where the 1999 film sacrificed the book's moral subtlety for pretty obvious ends (Fanny becomes a sort of pseudo-feminist icon, but of course back in the eighteenth century, before it was cool) the 1983 film contains all the troubled morality of the book - its characters, many of whom are failures in way or another, are presented with sympathy and irony, and the faithfulness of the screenplay is infinitely to be preferred to the 1999 film's racy, but ultimately pedestrian value system..
Ok so maybe you all disagree, but I prefer this old mini-series to the modern 1999 film.I read the book before I had seen either, and this version is so much more true to the book.
For me that is much more important than modern touches that spoiled the movie.Even though Sylvestra may not give a good performance as Fanny Price, I find her much more believable as Fanny than Frances O Connor.The camera work is very dodgey.
Henry Crawford is not played well I feel, the way he speaks seems all wrong and strange, I think they chose the wrong actor there.I was struck by the scene where Maria wants to go through the locked gate and sends Mr Rushworth to get the key.
For users of digital televisions the picture and sound quality is very low, but understandable since this production was made in the early 80s.The thing that amazes me most about this rendition is how faithful it is to the book.
This most noticeable in the characters of Henry and Mary Crawford.Lady Bertram is very much like she was in the book -except for her voice.
That was rather cheesy looking but it was the only scene that I was less than satisfied with.This production lacks the polish of BBC's Pride and Prejudice (1995) but it is worth seeing for the serious Austen fan..
Sylvestra le Touzel is appropriately mouse-like and really embodies the real Fanny Price, (one of my favourite Austen heroines).
If you enjoy Jane Austin's novels, this is the best of the two available versions of Mansfield Park.
It is very true to the book, but lacks the beautiful production values and outstanding cinematography of the 1999 version that stars Frances O'Connor.Fanny Price has always been a problematic character for Austin's fans.
Sylvestra Le Touzel does a nice job in this very challenging role.The best performance in the movie, though, is Jackie Smith Wood's Mary Crawford.
Mansfield Park, unlike Austin's other successful novels, is really about the failed love affair between Edmund and Mary.
The wedding at the end is a natural result of Edmund coming home to Fanny as the one stable element in his life.It's a solid movie with good acting and a complicated plot.
It is the third version of Mansfield Park that I saw (although the first made) and after seeing this version, I cannot stand how inaccurate the other two versions are.Anna Massey is absolutely fantastic as the controlling, miserly, class conscious Aunt Norris.I also liked Jackie Smith Wood's performance as Mary Crawford, the polar opposite personality to Fanny Price, the heroine.I thought that Bernard Hepton's Sir Thomas Bertram was much more likable than the more recent versions in which he was played overly harsh.All in all, if you are a fan of period dramas and don't mind long adaptations, this one is definitely worth watching..
This is a gentler, truer version of jane Austen's novel than the appalling 1999 film and I am thankful for that !
The casting could have been done with more thought and the whole production would have welcomed a larger budget but - overall - this version remains the yardstick by which all others should be measured.Fanny Price is, despite the actress chosen to play her, essentially the heroine of the book and it is her  views, fears insecurities and morals which are pivotal to the story.
The fact that Fanny does speak out against the play and Henry Crawford shows the strength of her misgivings.
Anyone who finds her insipid has either not read, or not understood, the book and should look again.In this day of fast paced films and often nonsensical dialogue, this adaptation may seem a little slow at times, but it is worth persevering.
I thought a smaller, frailer-looker Fanny would have more suited the character and I did not care for Miss Crawford's close-cropped hair, either, but these were not difficult to accept.
It obviously had a much lower budget than the recent 1999 adaptation, yet it was not nearly as awkward to watch as they did not massacre Jane Austen's meanings in an effort to make the setting and plot more palatable for modern audiences.
Production values and locations are adequate for the story and the acting, and I now value this Austen adaptation as highly as the best versions of the other books..
I liked the actress playing Fanny-she grew on me and did a good job changing from nervous mouse to a little more self-assured, but always unassuming and deferring as the character was.
The Frances O'Conner version was entertaining, but missed the book entirely, not only by changing the story and adding all the current socially relevant commentary, but by its half-hearted, after the fact, leaving out the main theme Austin was exploring-maybe not so popular in our time, but perhaps more relevant in our cynical times.
I agree with a previous poster that the actor playing Edmund seemed somewhat miscast, and I thought the Mary Crawford actress was a little flat even though she had the best lines.
Fanny is pursued by Henry Crawford a man who has no scruples about pursuing her married cousin or any woman he thinks he can make fall in love with him as a lark.
Fanny persevere and wins the love of Edmund and the respect of Mansfield Park's residence..
There have been many great versions of Jane Austen's books, such as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 Sense and Sensibility and the 1995 Persuasion, but there are also some disappointing ones such as 1987's Northanger Abbey and 2007's Mansfield Park.
This 1983 Mansfield Park is neither one of the greats or the disappointments regarding Jane Austen adaptations.
It's not perfect, with a slow start and some stiff camera work, but it's still leagues ahead of the other two adaptations of the book, the 1999 version I disliked but had one or two decent things and the 2007 version I hated with a miscast Fanny Price and no actual sense of the era.
The acting was generally fine, Sylvestra Le Touzel's Fanny is not my definition of a great performance, but in the most challenging Austen heroine role she does do a good job being pretty and austere and is miles ahead of Frances O'Connor and Billie Piper.
Nicholas Farrell is excellent though as Edmund and Bernard Hepton is a joy as Sir Thomas, but the best performances came from Jackie Smith-Wood in the complex but thankfully more subtle than before role of Mary Crawford, and Anna Massey who is as always great as Mrs Norris.
I liked Henry Crawford mostly, except he didn't make me fall in love with him when he addressed himself to Fanny.
Indeed, this 1983 version is "dated" as are other BBC/ITV productions of the time -- this is especially notable when compared to, for example, the Keira Knightley-version of "Pride & Prejudice," which is lush and beautifully shot.However, this mini-series has the luxury of time (as it is episodic) and is able to convey the finer points of the novel missed in director Patricia Rozema's 1999's "deconstructed" version and the lively (but far less faithful) 2007 Billie Piper version (in which very pretty and likable, but inconceivably blonde-haired and dark-browed, Piper is constantly running and giggling throughout the Bertram estate).
Her sister, Mrs. Norris, married a clergyman and they live on or near the estate of yet another sister, Lady Bertram, who, in turn, has married very well, and has four children, two boys, Tom and Edmund and two girls, Maria and Julia with her husband, a baronet, Lord Bertram.Mrs. Norris -- for reasons not entirely clear, although likely to give the appearance of having a charitable nature -- has convinced her wealthy brother-in-law and sister to take in their unfortunate sister's oldest daughter, Fanny.
Fanny grows up at Mansfield Park, always aware she's the family's "poor relation." Her affection for her cousin Edmund is at the core of Austen's love story.The acting in the mini-series is really excellent and Sylvestra LeTouzel is really Fanny, as Austen describes her in the original novel.
Some have mentioned her Lady Bertram seems medicated, but she actually comes across as touched/special/mentally deficient, and it defies credulity that Lord Bertram would marry her and that she would subsequently be running an estate like Mansfield Park (although the argument might be that Mrs. Norris does a good deal of the "running," with Lady Bertram as merely a figure head.
Pleasence's vocal stylings are reminiscent of Shirley Henderson's as "Moaning Myrtle" in "Harry Potter," but without Myrtle's wit and passion.Christopher Villiers and Jackie Smith-Wood, as Tom Bertram and Mary Crawford, are very, very good, and, like Massey's Mrs. Norris and LeTouzel's Fanny, offer up performances that are clearly what Austen intended for the characters.
Austen still leaves us, through this faithful adaptation, hopeful that good character, conscience, and courage do sometimes triumph over situations and people that are beyond our control..
This is, as other reviewers have commented on, a very faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, which is the best thing I can say about it.
The acting is so stagy that it looks like a theatre piece taken off the stage, and most of the actors are obviously uncomfortable in their roles, something a good director would have noticed and tried to amend.
Fanny Price [Sylvestra Le Touzel] is not the prettiest of actresses, at least not in this series, but she was chosen for the part and I have to say, I fell in love with the character.
Of note are Sir Thomas Bertram [Bernard Hepton], Aunt Norris [Anna Massey], Edmund [Nicholas Farrell] and Maria [Samantha Bond]..
for everyone who has read this book, Fanny Price ends up maturing into her own woman, a beautiful woman...with a brain.
The rest of the cast gives a solid good performance but Sylvestra Le Touzel ( as Fanny) and Nicholas Farrell ( as Edmund) are just too dull.
You hardly care for them and it's very hard to believe that Henry Crawford falls in love with her.This may be true to the book but it does not work in a movie / TV- series.
I found this the most accessible of Jane Austin's novels.Look for some of the same actors to appear in the other novels that were filmed at this time..
Not the most exciting of novels, it is the story of Fanny Price, sent from the cramped house she shares with her parents and siblings in Portsmouth, to the home of her rich aunt and uncle Bertram.
Here she becomes part of high society, although barely tolerated by her snobbish Aunt Norris, and finds her first taste of love and infatuation.Played by Sylvestra Le Touzel, Fanny in this version is plain, quiet, and unassuming.
Although many of the characters are caricatures to some extent - and none more annoying than Angela Pleasance as Aunt Bertram - there's some good work from Anna Massey as Aunt Norris and Bernard Hepton as Sir Thomas, Fanny's initially remote uncle.Paced far slower than dramas would be nowadays, and not as filled with incident as, say, Pride and Prejudice or Emma, 'Mansfield Park' requires some patience in viewing, but will reward that patience if you stay with it..
It is the only adaptation of Mansfield Park to actually stay true to the book and its characters, so if that's what you like and you were disappointed by either the 1999 or 2007 versions, you should check this one out.Most of the acting was perfectly adequate (with one big exception)- Sylvestra Le Touzel as Fanny Price.
Yes, she was written true to the book character of Fanny Price- timid but highly moral inside and all that.
Henry Crawford' s (Robert Burbage) acting is semi-decent, but unfortunately he also is a poor choice to play a romantic hero.
Bothered me every time he had a scene.Story: Well done, sticks to the novel like glue, which is what a literary adaptation should do.Resumee: I've watched this series twice now and it did grow on me slightly, however the terrible wigs and poor casting decisions for the romantic heroes (both good actors but just wrong for their parts) and the heroine spoil what could have been a good attempt.
The supporting cast is actually rather good, specially Mrs Norris, Maria and Mary Crawford.
Granted it is a low budget production but the script is good and follows the book more accurately than anything.
On the one hand, it is true that series stayed faithful to the novel and of course I found that very nice, but on the other hand terrible casting, poor acting, especially of key characters  like Funny Price, impression of stage play, I mean theatrical way of acting makes you irritate from the beginning to the end.
The Good and Bad. This adaptation is very true to the book.
.i liked the other females leads playing Aunt Norris and Mary Crawford.
On the surface, sitting down to watch this miniseries, I can understand why the modern viewer (accustomed to film instead of videotape, and filming budgets and schedules that go more for locations than sets) might think this Mansfield Park a little dated and less than exciting, but - on the other hand - it was made twenty-five years ago and arguably still has something about it.Fanny Price, admittedly, is not the most wild or exciting of Austen's heroines.
The other aunt, Mrs. Norris, is such a hypocrite - when things come to a head and Maria and Crawford cause scandal, she has the front to say it's Fanny's fault for refusing to marry Crawford.
Although wordy, the dialogue used by the aunts is very Austen-like - they start out intending to do one thing, then talk themselves out of it and feel good about the result.
There is a good distinction between Mary's ultra-fashionable look and Fanny's simple wardrobe and plainer hairstyle.
Similarly, the choice of furnishings are excellent - contrast the laden tables at Mansfield Park with the simple china and the tin plates of the Prices' home.Overall, although not as exciting perhaps as the 1999 film version, this adaptation is much more faithful to the book and I think takes more time over the subtleties of the plot..
I love watching these old BBC adaptations  you feel that all sins  dodgy makeup, some slightly stiff acting and static camera-work  are atoned for by the mere fact of them having bothered in the first place to devote so much, and such proper, attention to one of Austen's more disputed triumphs.Fanny Price, eldest daughter of a large, poor naval family, comes as a child to live with her wealthy aunt, the wife of a baronet, Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park.
I liked her as I confess I had not much liked Fanny Price in the book.Edmund as played by Nicholas Farrell was decent, not handsome but then he's not really meant to be.
But as with other reviewers here, I found Robert Burbage's Henry Crawford insufficiently fascinating for the romantic damage he is to do  though quite unappealing enough for Fanny's dislike.Forget the great license taken by Rozema's big, blustery version; this one does Austen's writing justice, but perhaps hasn't been treated kindly by time.
When I really like a book, I expect a movie or TV adaptation to be faithful to that book.
(Contrast this to, say, the 2005 Keira Knightley "Pride and Prejudice," a pretty good movie, perhaps, but a lousy representation of the author's intent.) If you're not much of a reader but you want to know what Jane Austen was trying to express in "Mansfield Park," this version will tell you faithfully.
The script, casting, staging, locations, sets, costumes, and acting are all very good with very limited exceptions.Had this been produced in 1994 alongside "Pride and Prejudice"--a truly world-class production in every way--it no doubt would have had a much better technical outcome and perhaps have had a little more "snap" to it.
As a viewer of this miniseries, I grew irritated by the mannerisms, gestures and look of the lead character, Fannie Price.
Many have said it was true to the book, if that is the case I find it hard to believe that Jane Austen would create such a character as her lead heroine.
Fanny character played by Sylvestra Le Touzel was lackluster; she often appeared to be about to faint.
This version of Mansfield Park, while being extremely accurate to the novel lacked the compassion I felt for Fanny which is crucial and central to this Jane Austen story.
I suggest skipping this version of Mansfield Park for the real thing...the Novel.
total crap.I was kind of excited to see this as it is the only film version I have seen of Mansfield Park.
A most tedious version of Mansfield Park, which to begin with is less interesting and engaging than Austen's other works (i.e. Emma, P&P, S&S).