I have liked Jane Austen’s novels since my teenage years, but I have to acknowledge that, in places, they can be a bit slow-moving. So although in general I prefer books to their film adaptations, I have very much enjoyed some of the film versions of Austen’s books.
Except for ‘Mansfield Park’. I’m not even going to link to my review of the appalling version we saw back in 2008, with Billie Piper extraordinarily badly cast as the gentle, prudish Fanny Price. So I was delighted to learn that there was also a BBC version, in several episodes (rather like the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice which was so well done, and so popular). It was made in 1983 as a mini-series. We were given it years ago, but had not actually watched it, thinking - at first - that we would need a full afternoon to see such a long adaptation.
It made more sense, of course, to see just one episode at a time, as would have been the case with the TV version. And although my husband had never read ‘Mansfield Park’, and couldn’t remember the story from the other version, he appreciated this almost as much as I did. With six episodes, this version is able to be very true to the book. I haven’t read it for some time, but when I checked particular scenes after watching them, I saw that the dialogue and action was very close to the original.
Fanny Price is played sensitively by Sylvestra Le Touzel. She sometimes seemed a bit flat, but Fanny is a poor relation, given a home by her wealthier uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram at their home in Mansfield Park. They don’t exactly mistreat her - this is no Jane Eyre story - but see her as inferior, and expect her to do a lot of menial work. She’s quiet and retiring, and happy to do anything, so she becomes quite invaluable to her frail invalid aunt (Angela Pleasance).
I found Lady Bertram rather irritating, but think that’s how she’s supposed to be. And she’s a great deal kinder than her sister-in-law, the widowed Mrs Norris, who idolises the two Bertram girls, Maria and Julia, and treats Fanny as little more than a servant. Mrs Norris is one of Austen’s ironical creations, and she’s played extremely well in this adaptation by Anna Massey.
I very much liked Nicholas Farrell's portrayal of Edmund Bertram, Fanny's favourite cousin. He is kind, and generous in his time spent with her. He helps with her education, discusses philosophical issues with her, and it's hardly surprising that she starts to fall in love with him...
A six-part adaptation is necessarily fairly slow-moving, but we didn’t lose interest. The main part of the story - in my mind - happens when the young people decide, in Sir Thomas’s absence, to stage a somewhat risque play, taking over more and more of the house to do so. That doesn’t happen until the fourth episode, by which time the characters and their situations are well established.
There’s a great deal of satirical humour in the situations, often at the expense of some of the less likeable people. The scenery is good, the dialogue faithful to Austen’s original, and the pace exactly right. Even knowing how it would end I found myself quite tense in the later episodes.
The ending, although it ties up several plot-lines and leaves everyone satisfactorily situated, feels a bit abrupt. But then it all takes place in a single chapter in the book, with a lot of reflection and inner dialogue which wouldn’t work in a film.
All in all, we thought it a very good adaptation, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Austen’s works and would like to see a version of Mansfield Park that sticks as close to the original story as is possible with a film.
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