Kevin Lea Davies I'm not a Jane Austin fan, that should be mentioned first. Not that I find her works boring but they simply aren't my cup of tea. I read Pride and Prejudice in a first year literary class, but it was a fairly dull experience for me, and I have never picked up Mansfield Park once.As a film, it is not even an eventful one. A kind of coming to age, rags to riches and back again kind of plot line. Although there were some beautiful settings and some extremely nice costuming, I never really felt that I was witnessing this period drama in the 1800's. I was trying not to laugh at most of the actors, taking themselves exceptionally seriously in roles that they obviously did not fit in. The main character was rather blasé at best. The morality of some of the characters were simply selfish, even when they were not trying to be, by simply trying to improve their social settings. By the end of the film, nobody had really changed, but just become more aged and experienced as one would expect. In the end, the women of the story overcome their respective obstacles and then it stops like an overly long bus trip. You need a meal and a nap at the end of this film.I would assume you have to enjoy Jane Austin novels to enjoy this film. If you are not into period pieces, give this one a miss.4/10

david-megginson Jane Austen's Fanny Price is a challenging character to understand: torn away from her family and socioeconomic sphere at 10, she loses all sense of self-worth, and shrinks into a profound insecurity where all she has to cling to are her middle-class moral values. The novel is the story of how those eventually prove stronger than the values of the rich family she's been pushed into. It would take a talented and sensitive filmmaker to bring her character to the screen.So these filmmakers didn't bother. Instead, they sent an Elizabeth Bennet clone to Mansfield: witty, vivacious, playful, and easy for the audience to like. The thing is, this isn't Pride and Prejudice, and the story and challenges no longer make any sense. I gave up after 20 minutes.I'll keep waiting for a good Mansfield Park movie. 3/10 for at least picking up (however clumsily and inaccurately) on Austen's subtle references to the slave trade.

petitchatnoir *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS (but not much)*Over the years, we've seen Austen stories adapted for screen, many with liberties taken for the sake of expediency or artistic license. This film uses the title and characters from a wonderful, thought-provoking story and alters them beyond recognition. It also eliminates some key figures and plot completely (her relationship with her brother William is essential to the story, and he's not even alluded to in this film). Many of Fanny's behaviors (pique made obvious to visitors and her "superiors", her feet up on a chair in a non-private room, déshabillé with a near stranger) and statements are so thoroughly current-day and not in keeping with the shy, insecure Fanny Price of Austen's book that they are as much a distraction as a ringing cell phone inserted into a scene would be. There's also a great deal of sexualization of the characters which is superfluous and, again, distracting. It's not clear what story Ms. Rozema wanted to tell here but it surely was not Mansfield Park.

littlebutterflygb-682-229678 How utterly annoying this film is for Austen fans. The writer/ director brings in a lesbian attraction between Fanny and Miss Crawford which is entirely out of context and far too many scenes between the two resort to lingering touches and embraces which give rise to much rolling of the eyes.There is also an element of loquaciousness from Sir Thomas which also spoils the story and shows Rozema to be ignorant of the historical context of both his and Miss Crawfords relationship with Fanny. Its all a shame really as the performances are good and the costumes and scenery delightful. Best avoided if you are an Austen fan.