I went to see this with reservations. I had heard that it bore little resemblance to the book, but I was on the whole pleasantly suprised. The acting is uniformally excellent (apart from the Young Fanny who had the worst fake English accent I've ever heard) especially from Frances O'Connor and Harold Pinter.
Although O'Connor was excellent, and the characterisation of Fanny worked in the context of the film, it would have been nice to see the character of Fanny from the book, which contrary to most opinions, I found to be very complex and interesting. This would be hard to bring across in a film, and when you remember the diabolical TV version, it is easy to understand why they did it as they did.
I thought the addition of the slavery issue was a bit crass, and there were too many needless jokes, Mansfield Park isn't Emma however you rejig it) but on the whole this wasn't too bad.
Although O'Connor was excellent, and the characterisation of Fanny worked in the context of the film, it would have been nice to see the character of Fanny from the book, which contrary to most opinions, I found to be very complex and interesting. This would be hard to bring across in a film, and when you remember the diabolical TV version, it is easy to understand why they did it as they did.
I thought the addition of the slavery issue was a bit crass, and there were too many needless jokes, Mansfield Park isn't Emma however you rejig it) but on the whole this wasn't too bad.