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:
And, as with all the other versions of Mansfield Park out there, the character of Fanny Price is no where to be found.
Someday, I would really like to see a dramatization of Mansfield Park that actually includes a depiction of the character of Fanny as she was written by Jane Austen.
Unlike some other Jane Austen novels (P&P, Emma), Mansfield Park does not rest on the strength of its female protagonist.
I watched this movie because I have just now finished reading Mansfield Park, and I am absolutely horrified by what I see; Miss Austen is rolling in her grave..
This is the worst adaptation of 'Mansfield Park' I have ever seen, even worse than the 1999 film version.
At best, this is 'inspired' by the story of 'Mansfield Park' and I'm sorry to say that it's barely recognisable to the original.I like Billie Piper.
Many modern adaptations feel the need to shake up the story and make Fanny Price more like Elizabeth Bennet which is exactly what they've done here.
In addition, a key event in the story involves Fanny going back to Portsmouth to visit her parents, something that makes her realise that perhaps life at Mansfield Park is not so bad in comparison with where she would have otherwise grown up, and that helps her to discover a sense of her own identity.
In this adaptation, Fanny is simply left home alone at Mansfield while the rest of the family go off somewhere, which merely results in her feeling (shock horror) lonely and rejected  and viewers like me suspecting that the producers didn't have much money.
I'm no Jane Austen purist but why make a film like this if you have nothing to say.Billie Piper was so wrong for the part it is difficult to know where to begin-wrong personality,modern make-up,completely wrong hair (there is no way a young lady of her age would have romped around in public with her hair loose and unbrushed like that),she didn't seem particularly meek nor put-upon by the family and I didn't understand why everyone seemed to think of her as particularly saintly or kind.The picnic(substituted for the ball) was so low-budget it was embarrassing to watch and missing out the Portsmouth section completely destroyed the point of the piece (as well as losing scenes which could have added a gritty counterpoint to that oh-so-claustrophobic pink sitting room.)To those responsible:-If you haven't the imagination (even the budget doesn't matter so much as the imagination) to do something meaningful with an adaptation please don't pretend to be producing Jane Austen.It was about 10% Mansfield Park and 90% nothing much at allPS Edmund was very good.
I watched 40 minutes and couldn't bear it any longer  the television went off and I returned to some light reading "Lobotomy for Beginners".It was hard to say what aspect of this production was most displeasing - dialogue made up entirely of sound-bytes or the acting by numbers.It was difficult to determine the period in which the drama was supposed to take place.
The other bright-young things had make-up and costumes more appropriate to a 21st century fancy dress party - the bleached-blonde Fanny, Billie Piper being the least credible character.UK commercial television obviously believes heaving bosoms, pouting lips and deep meaningful looks make a good story.
Fortunately Jane Austen had other ideas.If you want to find out the story of Mansfield Park, buy the 1983 mini-series DVD..
Admittedly, Mansfield Park is the most difficult of the novels to "get," and Fanny is certainly the hardest to like, but...
I have read many of Jane Austen's novels, Mansfield Park being one of them.
This seems like a film made with Jane Austen kind of elements but doesn't relate at all to the 'Mansfield Park' novel that Jane Austen wrote.
I agree this novel of Jane Austens is the difficult to portray particularly to a modern audience, the heroine is hardly a Elizabeth Bennet, even Edmund is not calculated to cause female hearts to skip a beat.
If some past adaptions may be seen as dated the weakness of this one must be that it is too modern ('his life is one long party'?????) The cast was generally adequate, but I think Billie Piper was the wrong choice, it needed someone more restrained, I gained no impression of hidden depths beneath a submissive exterior, she was more like a frolicking child.
Furthermore, Billie Piper is completely miscast in the role of Fanny Price, a character described in the book as shy and timid.
It is incredibly distracting, and the rest of the cast is in the greasy hair, rumpled clothing genre that shows a real disrespect for period accuracy.One thing is good here - Haley Atwell is the best Mary Crawford of all the versions.
This is just a production that really missed the mark, a real low for Austen fans.The only serviceable version is the one with odd duck (perfect for the role) Sylvestra La Touzel (despite the very very gay Henry Crawford - he's just laughable)..
Her looks and demeanour are completely out of place.The ITV website shows the makers of the film saying (this is the gist) that Fanny Price is a boring character, but that they fixed that by bringing in Billie Piper.
Key sections have to be rushed or alluded to, or omitted; there barely enough time just to get in the chronology of events, so character development has to be sacrificed: we cannot get much of a sense of who the people are, which robs us of what makes Austen so great.One major negative for me was the cinematography, which I thought was just awful, and quite literally sickening.
Of course, this did distract from the rather lackluster I'm-just-reading-what's-in-the-script acting (isolated scenes are nicely done, but not enough to save things).Adding up the score so far in the Complete J.A. Sweepstakes: I'd rate "Northanger Abbey" a success, because of superior direction and production values (and the story lends itself better to short treatment), "Persuasion" OK (though not the equal of other versions, with condensation again being at fault), both far ahead of this attempt.
As Fanny Price, Billie Piper is just wrong in every respect - too modern, too flirtatious, and too aware of her station.However there are some compensations, even if the characters are portrayed with little reference to the original book - Douglas Hodge, Jemma Redgrave, and Maggie O'Neill are pretty good, while Blake Ritson has a decent stab at the role of Edmund.It just doesn't feel right or have the correct sense of period.
I've read plenty of Jane Austen in my time and approve of several cinema/TV adaptations but this one we just don't need.Rating is a 2 as I wouldn't say it's awful just so boring you will feel like you've wasted 90 minutes of your life.
This Mansfield Park may not be badly shot and the scenery looks great, but I saw very little evocative about the period recreation, I missed the atmosphere that even 2007's Persuasion(disappointing as that was) had and all the best Austen adaptations have and to me it felt too much like a costume drama being shot against a modern era rather than being transported through a time machine.
The story also disappoints, the adaptation is too short so consequently the storytelling feels too rushed complete with characters that you just don't care anything for and very little of the attitudes and statuses of the time which would have given it some authenticity.
I wasn't too thrilled about the casting either, the actors are good and try their best but it is all a wasted effort when their characters and story aren't very interesting or well developed.
I recently read the book (a bit of a slog but brilliant) and was interested to see a screen adaptation, wondering how on earth they could breath life into Fanny Price who seems to be more of an ideal that a real person.
Mansfield Park, in its second half, is my favorite of Austen's novels, and Fanny Price my favorite of her heroines, so I'm saddened by the unhappy fate she's suffered in her big- and small-screen representations.
If the actress had been younger she would have been good visual casting as well; but the Fannys that have reached our eyes to date have more resembled, respectively: Mary Crawford; Ruby the scullery girl; and (in this incarnation) a jovial serving wench, or possibly tart, with her high moral principles pulled down a peg.Well, I had hoped for better, but had feared worse.
First of all, you have probably been warned in the past to not read a book before you see the movie, because "it will ruin it." Well, in this case, having seen the other Mansfield Park kind of ruined this one for me.
Rich and I both agreed that it would seem the 1999 version must have been twice as long, because there is so much more development, so much more tension built over time between Fanny and Edmund, so much more depth to the characters.
She left out fairly major characters, combined events, took several liberties like those, and yet it made for such a great movie, that even having read the book many many times, it didn't bother me at all.
It may not be strictly Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, but at least it was well-written, beautifully shot, and well-acted by a superior cast.
Fanny Price (Billie Piper) was sent to live with her aunts in Mansfield Park at the age of 10.
The family is turned upside down with the arrival of their neighbors siblings Mary (Hayley Atwell) and Henry Crawford (Joseph Beattie).Billie Piper is a very modern personality and doesn't fit the Fanny character.
Fanny Price, the main character, was hardly in it, all Billie Piper's lines could have fit onto a single page of A4.
I do like Billie Piper as an actress, but this role did not suit her and was much better played by Frances O'Connor in the 1999 version who gave overall a far more subtle and convincing performance.
Jane Austen adaptations will always provide a love story to leave you feeling good but unfortunately, this is one of the worst I have seen..
they made fanny price seem too much like jane herself and totally changed her countenance, which in my opinion is the subject of the book.
I would like to see BBC make another Mansfield Park which will give time for story telling.
If anyone has read all of Jane Austens books as i have, I'm sure that you will find that out of all her leading ladies, Fanny Price is the dullest therefore i am glad this production showed a more passionate story and although not a complete portrayal of Fanny Price i thought the story well put together and all together beautiful.
I was so enchanted by it that i walked away at the end of the production beaming as i thought it so beautiful.For a comment on the acting i thought that Billie Piper's Fanny Price was very well done and that Blake Ritson's Edmund Bertram was worth watching if not only but to drool over him.Enchanting, beautiful and worth watching: this coming from a viewer who is not intellectually-challenged!.
I had already read some of the reviews here when I started watching this latest version of Jane Austen's novel, and I kind of expected the worst.
Mansfield Park is probably the dullest Jane Austen book, and Fanny definitely the dullest heroine.
When I first read the book I was almost shouting at her to "do something!" ITV tried to fix this by casting Billie Piper, but she is totally wrong for any Austen production, as she is just too modern looking (I read somewhere they considered asking her to dye her eyebrows blonde!
the two main characters Billie piper and Blake ritson where wonderful and i was glad that i watched and bought this movie,,they were sweet and tender and made you feel good for a change..
its a delight and the plot is wonderfully romantic and fulfilling, like many other itv film productions of Jane Austen's work..
Read the book first , and then enjoy Billie Piper's glowing depiction of Fanny Price.
Honestly, Mansfield Park is probably Jane Austen's dreariest novel.
However, if you want to watch a film adaptation of the novel then this is by far the better choice.
I think Billie Piper does an excellent job of bringing Fanny Price to life by remaining true to her character but making her likable.
I also think the opprobrium heaped on Billie Piper was completely unfair: the reviewers seemed to blame her for the fact that she was not like the Fanny of the novel.
Having seen her in many productions, I think Billie is a fine actress, and she delivered precisely what was asked of her for this version of Mansfield park.
I will not say anything about the miscasting of Billie Piper as Fanny (Maggie O'Neill as Mrs Norris and Jemma Redgrave as Lady Bertram were also I feel miscast), nor about the enormous liberties taken with the plot, nor about Fanny's hair, nor about Fanny bouncing about like a fairy, I will even hold my tongue about the actress's manicured eyebrows as these have already been covered by other reviewers.
But there are so many other things that are wrong in this 'adaptation'.What I really liked about the book is how Fanny is the only constant in the story, everyone around her changes their feelings, opinions even their characters but Fanny although timid and shy sticks by her strong moral standards and shows a strength of character that surprises everyone who thought who knew her.
I did not see the conflicted Crawfords almost becoming good people, I did not see Sir Thomas regretting the way he brought up his children nor did I see Edmund falling in love with Fanny.
(I had to stifle a chuckle when the light shined off Fanny's messy hair and Edmund was suddenly struck with love as if shown the way by the Holy Spirit) I didn't even see the seduction progressing between Maria and Henry Crawford which is a pity as this is the only Jane Austen book that touches on infidelity.An other thing I really disliked is how they changed the characters of Mrs Norris and Lady Bertram.
Last things; the opening narration was just lazy, most of the acting bland.To end on a good note, i really liked the music, James D'Arcy who plays Tom Bertram is very good looking and my inner (and secret) squealing, girly, rom-com loving girl enjoyed the bit were Edmund runs after Fanny and they get together at last - although the joy was short lived when I remembered that this was supposed to be Mansfield Park..
When she is 18, new neighbors Henry and Mary Crawford come into her life; Henry has eyes for Fanny while Edmond is smitten with Mary.This Masterpiece Theatre version of Jane Austen's novel was really disappointing.
As long as it's not viewed as a film related to the Jane Austen novel, it is enjoyable and delightful to watch.
If one wants to see a delightful Elizabeth Bennett character, one should watch Pride & Prejudice.Also, as aforementioned in other comments, not sending Fanny away from Mansfield to her poor home most definitely changes the anatomy of the story as well.
The sets were gorgeous and I really feel that with the correct story structure and direction that Billie Piper (whom I'd never seen before) could actually have been a great Fanny Price.
Worst Adaptation of a Jane Austen Novel I have seen.
It can barely call itself an adaptation of Jane Austen's Novel, Mansfield Park.
This movie is bad on so many levels...Whoever had the idea of casting Billie Piper as Fanny Price should take a long hard look at their choice of career.
This is perhaps the Jane Austen novel in which it is most difficult to interest a modern audience, to whom Fanny and Edmund can seem at best dull and insipid and at worst self-righteous and priggish.
And he manages to present so wonderfully the key to Edmund's character - that he is in love with an ideal, but does not see it lives right in front of him (in the person of Fanny) until after the heartbreak with Mary Crawford.
I must admit that in most of the movie, I got irritated at Billie Piper's Fanny Price-character.
If you are a Janeite, as people who love all things Jane Austen, you are not gleeful about the latest adaptation of Mansfield Park.
It seems that the writer just jumbled a few plot lines from the book and added a few of his or her own and moved the story along so quickly that no one had a chance to identify with the main character Fanny Price or any of the Bertram family for that matter.
I have read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and I think she is an amazing writer but even though this TV version with Billie Piper isn't true to the story, I thought it was brilliant and that appearances from James D'arcy and Blake Ritson made the whole adaptation even more amazingly good.This is, of course, my own thoughts and taste but I love the ending when Edmund (Blake Ritson) falls in love with Fanny (Billie Piper) in the last ten minutes of the whole program.I thought it was very sweet and romantic and the whole reason why I would watch it again and again and again.<3 <3 <3.
This is a lovely story by Austen, in part because her main heroine, Fanny, is not noted for her wit, but rather for her good nature and kindness.
If you love Austen, period pieces or romantic dramas, do seek out this new version of Mansfield Park.