Mansfield Park

Peter McGinn

I had watched this version of this Jane Austen novel many years ago, and the part that came back to me most clearly was Angela Pleasence’s take on Fanny’s Aunt Bertrand. She plays the role very meekly and soft-spoken. I assume it is how the book portrays her, but it has been even longer since I read the book. It makes it hard to hear her lines at times. I like this mini-series, but not as much as I enjoy many of the Austen-inspired productions, to be sure. Perhaps part of that is that the novel is not one of my favorites of hers either. Of course, a little of Mrs. Norris goes a long ways, but that is the point, and Anna Massey does a good job making an irritating character bearable. Some of the characters seem a tad more two-dimensional than I expected, but it held my interest until the end, and that is what counts. Then again, having said that a lack of of depth in some characters, I feel obliged to point of that they could have turned Fanny’s drinking father into a typical abusive bully, but they didn’t. He was useless and sloppy, but not typically violent. I think it was quite watchable overall, but I find myself hoping someone else takes a stab at fashioning a new version.