Stars: Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Frances O'Connor, Harold Pinter, Lindsay Duncan, Sheila Gish, James Purefoy, Justine Waddell, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton

Director: Patricia Rozema

Summary: A new adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel. Poverty-stricken Fanny Price goes to live with her prosperous aunt and cousins at their country home. As she struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle she begins to attract the attentions of suitors...

This sterling adaptation of Austen's third published novel, set in early 19th century Portsmouth, England, concerns Fanny Price (O'Connor), an intelligent young woman who is sent to live with her mother's wealthy family. Settling into her new life, Fanny is treated poorly by everyone except her cousin Edmund (Miller). The pair connect immediately, and pretty soon deeper feelings emerge. The arrival of a conniving brother and sister duo cause a commotion, forcing Fanny to decide if she should succumb to her material surroundings, or remain true to her heart.

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Patricia Rozema is a Canadian director with the nerve to helm smart, big budget movies, as she proves again in Mansfield Park. She had her first hit with the quirky I've Heard the Mermaids Singing(1987) in which the heroine, a mouse among art gallery sharks, eventually comes into her own, surpassing the mentor who's risen on her back. Similarly, in Mansfield Park, adapted from Jane Austen's strongly autobiographical novel, penniless city mouse Fanny Price (Frances O'Connor) comes to live in a handsome country manor with the Bertrams, her heartless, class-conscious relations. After many cruel setbacks, Fanny manages, by dint of writing talent and moral integrity, to win the day and the love of her life Edmund (Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller).

Unlike filmmakers who dress up Austen's money-driven world in sweetness and light, Rozema rubs our noses in the fact that the Bertrams' wealth flows from the blood and sweat of faraway slaves. The adaptation never euphemises the down-and-dirty slum life which has swallowed up Fanny's mother and threatens Fanny if she refuses to marry the handsome but hollow fortune hunter (Alessandro Nivola) chosen for her by her benefactors. Playwright Harold Pinter is compelling as Mansfield Park's patriarch, Sir Thomas Bertram, capable of kindness but stone-cold when his aristocratic will is crossed. Embeth Davidtz (playing Mary, the amoral sibling of Fanny's suitor, with wonderfully seductive verve) and O'Connor almost resemble each other--and they are sisters of a sort, each vying, according to her talents, in a stock market where women must parlay sex to stay alive. In this entertaining ride in the socioeconomic fast lane circa 1806, Jane Austen comes across as a full-blooded proto-feminist with savvy charm.--Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1999
Release Date:	June 15, 2006
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 888433
Label:	Miramax
Keywords:	Classic, Book, Park, General, Wide, Screen, Mansfield, Drama, Based
Genre:	Drama