Mansfield Park (DVD)

...mother's sister, Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. Sensitive and shy, Fanny misses her family terribly, all the more so because her cousins, Maria and Julia, look down on her. Luckily, cousin Edmund takes care of her and she soon becomes part of the family, although always aware of her lowly position. She soon comes to care for Edmund, but his heart is won by another woman - Miss Mary Crawford - whose rascally brother, Henry, eventually falls in love ...
...always enjoyed her work and Mansfield Park, the story of a woman determined to hold out for what she wants, is one of my favourite Austen novels. It has been televised more than once; the most recent version starring Billie Piper as Fanny and shown last Christmas. The version that I am reviewing is the 1983 version, which was shown on television as a mini-series, and is very faithful to the original story.

Sylvestra Le Touzel is absolutely ... more

Coming from a large family with little money, Fanny Price is sent at a young age to her mother's sister, Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. Sensitive and shy, Fanny misses her family terribly, all the more so because her cousins, Maria and Julia, look down on her. Luckily, cousin Edmund takes care of her and she soon becomes part of the family, although always aware of her lowly position. She soon comes to care for Edmund, but his heart is won by another woman - Miss Mary Crawford - whose rascally brother, Henry, eventually falls in love with Fanny. Much to the horror of Fanny's aunts and uncle, she turns him down, still in the throes of unrequited love for Edmund. Will she come to her senses and marry Henry? Or will she follow her heart and hold out for Edmund's love?

Although forced to study Pride and Prejudice for O level, which was enough to put most people off Jane Austen's works for life, I have always enjoyed her work and Mansfield Park, the story of a woman determined to hold out for what she wants, is one of my favourite Austen novels. It has been televised more than once; the most recent version starring Billie Piper as Fanny and shown last Christmas. The version that I am reviewing is the 1983 version, which was shown on television as a mini-series, and is very faithful to the original story.

Sylvestra Le Touzel is absolutely perfect as Fanny and is miles better than Billie Piper in the same role. Fanny Price is shy and quiet and slightly awkward, and this is exactly what Sylvestra brings to the role. I thought her hand movements, which betrayed her gaucheness in public situations, were spot on. Despite this shyness though, there is an under-current of determination in Fanny and again Le Touzel got this spot on. She is not an actress that I am familiar with, although she appears to have been on our TV screens frequently since Mansfield Park in shows such as Alas Smith and Jones, Bonkers and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

I loved Anna Massey and Alison Fiske who play Fanny's aunts, Aunt Norris and Lady Bertram. Aunt Norris is a real busybody, always reminding Fanny of her position and good fortune. Anna Massey throws herself into the character with gusto and I found myself really hating her for her insensitivity towards Fanny. Lady Bertram is a rather lazy, dopey woman who is very frail and sensitive. Alison Fiske portrayed her by draping herself over sofas and speaking in a weak, high voice, all to great effect. To begin with, I thought she would be annoying, but instead I found her rather endearing.

I can't write this review without mentioning the two main men of the series - Nicholas Farrell who plays Edmund Bertram and Robert Burbage who plays Henry Crawford. Nicholas Farrell is perhaps overshadowed by Burbage, simply because Crawford is a much more colourful character. In true Jane Austen fashion, Edmund is a good man with a high standard of morals, and as such, is pretty dull. Even worse, he is a parson. Despite all this though, Nicholas Farrell does manage to make him a pleasant enough character. Robert Burbage must have had such fun playing the over-confident, flirty Henry Crawford. He is immediately eye-catching - there is something about the way he holds his mouth that attracts attention - and he is exactly the man everyone loves to hate.

There are a couple of other familiar faces in the enormous cast - Samantha Bond plays one of the Bertram girls and Gorden Kaye (of 'Allo 'Allo fame) plays the Mansfield parson. Gorden Kaye didn't stand out all that much - his mannerism weren't that different from those of Rene, but Samantha Bond was really good - hard to believe she is still a relatively young woman now (well, she looks young anyway!).

The setting for the mini-series is Ringwood in Hampshire and as a location, it is really stunning, both from the inside and outside. The costumes were also exquisite and really added a touch of quality to the episodes. The researchers clearly did an excellent job of ensuring that attention was paid to detail, both from the point of view of the visuals and in the accurate storyline.

One of the problems with the 2007 version of Mansfield Park is that it was less than two hours long and there was very little time for character development - so little that I really didn't care what happened to any of them. At over five hours long, we really get to know and understand the characters in this version and I wanted to know how it was all going to end - so much so that I watched all six episodes in just two sittings. The length also allowed the writers to keep very close to the original storyline. It may not be important to some, but I heartily dislike it when writers decide to rewrite a perfectly good storyline as they did in the 2007 version, so I was delighted that this one was so accurate.

The only issue that I have with this version is that the child actors - Fanny and her cousins in episode one and Fanny's brothers and sisters later on - were not very good. One or two of them, particularly the young Bertram girls and Edmund, were so wooden that it was painful. However, their performances were very brief and didn't take much away from my overall enjoyment of the series.

As can perhaps be expected from a series made back in 1983, there are no special features with this two disc DVD. I am therefore reviewing the film only version.

This might take a lot of watching, but I really enjoyed every minute of it and can heartily recommend it to anyone with a vague interest in Jane Austen and/or romantic storylines without a huge amount of slush. It is certainly much better than the 2007 version with Billie Piper. Highly recommended.

The DVD (six episodes over two discs) is available from play.com for £15.99.

Running time: 5 hours 20 minutes

Classification: U 

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