There was nothing wrong with them, but I must admit that they failed to capture my imagination. The only bleak spot in the movie’s production values seemed to be Andrea Galer’s costume designs. On the whole, Coulter’s photography struck me as colorful and imaginative. And I especially enjoyed his photography, along with Martin Walsh’s editing in the lively sequence featuring the Bertrams’ ball held in Fanny’s honor. I also found Coulter’s use the Cornish town of Charlestown as a stand-in for the early 19th century Portmouth as very picturesque. Hobbes further established that slightly corrupted air by sparsely furnishing the house. Rozema, along with cinematographer Michael Coulter and production designer Christopher Hobbs, used the house’s abandoned state and cream-colored walls to convey a corrupt atmosphere as an allusion to the Bertrams’ financial connection to slavery. I found the production crew’s use of an abandoned manor house called Kirby Hall to be very interesting. One aspect of “MANSFIELD PARK” that impressed me turned out to be the movie’s production values. These overt allusions to British slavery ended up leaving many critics and Austen fans up in arms. Rozema used the slavery connection with a heavier hand in scenes that included Fanny hearing the cries of slaves approaching the English coast during her journey to Mansfield Park a discussion initiated by Sir Thomas on breeding mulattoes Edmund’s comments about the family and Fanny’s dependence upon the Antigua plantation oldest son Tom Bertram’s revulsion toward this dependence and graphic drawings of brutalized slaves. She also used this connection to emphasize Fanny’s position as a woman, a poor relation, and her semi-servile position within the Mansfield Park household. Rozema utilized the Bertrams’ connection to African slavery to emphasize their questionable morality and possible corruption. Sir Thomas and the rest of the family responded with uncomfortable silence. Upon his return to England and Mansfield Park, Fanny asked him a question regarding his slaves. Due to a financial crisis, Sir Thomas was forced to depart for Antigua for a certain period of time with his oldest son as a companion. Austen’s novel described Fanny’s uncle by marriage, Sir Thomas Bertram, as the owner of a plantation on the island of Antigua. The writer-director allowed the topic to permeate the movie. And in this adaptation, Fanny eventually accepted Henry Crawford’s marriage proposal during her stay in Portsmouth, before rejecting it the following day.īut the biggest change made by Rozema had involved the topic of slavery. Fanny’s older brother, William Price, ceased to exist. Characters like the Crawfords’ half-sister and brother-in-law, the Grants, failed to make an appearance. Because of this revision, actor Jonny Lee Miller portrayed an Edmund who seemed a bit livelier and less priggish than his literary counterpart. Rozema also allowed the Edmund Bertram character to become romantically aware of Fanny a lot sooner than the character did in the novel. Mind you, Rozema’s Fanny continued to be the story’s bastion of morality – only with what many would view as sass. Rozema’s script allowed actress Frances O’Connor to portray Fanny as a talented writer with a lively wit and quick temper. One obvious change that Rozema had made centered on the heroine’s personality. Changes that have proven to be controversial to this day. The result turned out to be an adaptation filled with a good deal of changes from Austen’s original text. In the end, she changed her mind on the grounds that she wrote her own screen adaptation. She claimed that she found both the novel and the Fanny Price character unappealing. When director-writer Patricia Rozema was offered the assignment to direct a film adaptation of “Mansfield Park”, she had originally rejected it. In fact, opinions of the novel and its heroine, Fanny Price, seemed just as divided today, as they had been by Austen’s own family back in the early 19th century. For her role in the 1995 London revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical.From the numerous articles and essays I have read on-line, Jane Austen’s 1814 novel, “Mansfield Park” did not seemed to be a big favorite amongst the author’s modern fans. Sheila Anne Syme Gash (23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005), known professionally as Sheila Gish, was an English stage and screen actress.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |