Mansfield Park (1999)

Director:

Patricia Rozema

Writers:

Jane Austen (novel)
Patricia Rozema (written by)

Release Date:

19 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Jane Austen's Wicked Comedy

Plot:

At 10, Fanny Price, a poor relation, goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband...

Plot Keywords:

Slavery | Neighbor | Writer | Estate | Melancholy

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Hannah Taylor-Gordon	...	Young Fanny (as Hannah Taylor Gordon)
Talya Gordon	...	Young Susan
Lindsay Duncan	...	Mrs. Price / Lady Bertram
Bruce Byron	...	Carriage Driver
James Purefoy	...	Tom Bertram
Sheila Gish	...	Mrs. Norris
Harold Pinter	...	Sir Thomas Bertram
Elizabeth Eaton	...	Young Maria
Elizabeth Earl	...	Young Julia
Philip Sarson	...	Young Edmond
Amelia Warner	...	Teenage Fanny
Frances O'Connor	...	Fanny Price
Jonny Lee Miller	...	Edmund Bertram
Victoria Hamilton	...	Maria Bertram
Hugh Bonneville	...	Mr. Rushworth
Justine Waddell	...	Julia Bertram
Embeth Davidtz	...	Mary Crawford
Alessandro Nivola	...	Henry Crawford
Charles Edwards	...	Yates
Sophia Myles	...	Susan Price
Hilton McRae	...	Mr. Price
Anna Popplewell	...	Betsey
Danny Worters	...	Boy with Bird Cart
Gordon Reid	...	Dr. Winthrop
Jack Murphy	...	Ballroom Dancer
Peter Curtis	...	Ballroom Dancer
Emma Flett	...	Ballroom Dancer
Wendy Woodbridge	...	Ballroom Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eliza Darby	...	Young Betsy (uncredited)

Directed by
Patricia Rozema

Writing credits
Jane Austen		(novel "Mansfield Park, letters, juvenilia")
Patricia Rozema		(written by)

Produced by
David Aukin	....	executive producer
Sarah Curtis	....	producer
Colin Leventhal	....	executive producer
Trea Leventhal	....	executive producer (as Trea Hoving)
Cathy Lord	....	line producer
Allon Reich	....	associate producer
David M. Thompson	....	executive producer
Bob Weinstein	....	executive producer
Harvey Weinstein	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Lesley Barber

Cinematography by
Michael Coulter		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Martin Walsh

Casting by
Gail Stevens

Production Design by
Christopher Hobbs

Art Direction by
Andrew Munro

Set Decoration by
Patricia Edwards

Costume Design by
Andrea Galer

Makeup Department
Tamsin Dorling	....	hair stylist
Tamsin Dorling	....	makeup artist
Paul Gooch	....	additional makeup artist
Veronica McAleer	....	makeup designer (as Veronica Brebner)
Astrid Schikorra	....	hair stylist
Astrid Schikorra	....	makeup artist
Jemma Scott-Knox-Gore	....	contact lens technician
Helen Smith	....	hair stylist
Helen Smith	....	makeup artist
Liz Tagg	....	hair stylist (as Liz Tag)
Liz Tagg	....	makeup artist (as Liz Tag)

Production Management
Hilary Benson	....	production manager
Tania Blunden	....	post-production supervisor (as Tania Windsor Blunden)
Sara Geater	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Theo de Rosé	....	first assistant director: second unit (as Theo De Rose)
Mark Layton	....	second assistant director
Candy Marlowe	....	crowd second assistant director
Alex Oakley	....	third assistant director (as Alexander Oakley)
Mary Soan	....	first assistant director
Ken Tuohy	....	first assistant director: second unit

Art Department
Barry Arnold	....	stand-by props
Damon Earnshaw	....	assistant art director
Barry Gibbs	....	property master
Christopher Hobbs	....	artist: Tom's paintings and original slave drawings
Douglas Ingram	....	storyboard artist
Alice Milburn-Foster	....	scenic artist (as Alice Milburn Foster)
Steve Mitchell	....	scenic artist
Darryl Paterson	....	dressing props
Darryl Paterson	....	prop storeman
Sarah 'Toad' Tozer	....	draughtsman (as SarahTozer)
Tom Wales	....	assistant art director
Kevin Wheeler	....	dressing props

Sound Department
Peter Burgis	....	foley artist
Graham Daniel	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andie Derrick	....	foley artist
Glenn Freemantle	....	supervising sound editor
Susan French	....	assistant adr editor
Stephen Gilmour	....	sound maintenance
Peter Glossop	....	production sound mixer
Max Hoskins	....	dialogue editor
Miriam Ludbrook	....	foley editor
Ray Merrin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Shaun Mills	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Gary Cohen	....	special effects technician: Evolution FX
Matthew Granger	....	special effects technician: Evolution FX
Alan Hawes	....	special effects technician: Evolution FX
James McKeown	....	special effects
Mark Meddings	....	special effects technician: Evolution FX
Richard Van Den Bergh	....	special effects supervisor: Evolution FX

Visual Effects by
Tom Debenham	....	senior digital compositing artist: CFC
Robert Duncan	....	senior digital compositing artist: CFC
Drew Jones	....	digital visual effects producer: CFC
Alex Payman	....	digital paint artist: CFC (as Alex Paymen)
Steve Tizzard	....	digital scanning and recording: CFC
Timothy Webber	....	digital visual effects supervisor: CFC (as Tim Webber)

Camera and Electrical Department
Julian Bucknall	....	focus puller
Pete Cavaciuti	....	Steadicam operator (as Peter Cavaciutti)
Clive Coote	....	still photographer
Philip George	....	aerial camera operator
Philip George	....	aerial camera pilot
Gifford Hooper	....	aerial photographer
Alex Howe	....	first assistant camera: second unit
John Jennings	....	aerial camera operator
John Jennings	....	aerial camera pilot
Mike Parker	....	aerial camera operator
Mike Parker	....	aerial camera pilot
Jan Pester	....	Steadicam operator
Barney Piercy	....	clapper loader: second unit
Chris Plevin	....	director of photography: second unit
Philip Sindall	....	camera operator
Ginger McCarthy	....	electrical rigger (uncredited)

Casting Department
Maureen Duff	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lee Clayton	....	costume cutter
Lee Clayton	....	tailor
Sara Creed	....	costumes
Cynthea Dowling	....	wardrobe mistress
Charlotte Morris	....	extras wardrobe assistant
Neil Murphy	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Dan Gane	....	assistant editor (as Daniel Gane)
Celia Haining	....	assistant editor
Steve Harrow	....	post-production consultant
Steve Maguire	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Lesley Barber	....	orchestrator
Nigel Eaton	....	musician: hurdy gurdy
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Nick Ingman	....	additional orchestrator
Nick Ingman	....	conductor
Salif Keita	....	composer: song "Djongna {Slavery}"
Bob Last	....	music supervisor
Alasdair Malloy	....	musician: glass harmonica (as Alisdair Malloy)
Stephen McLaughlin	....	music engineer (as Steve McLaughlin)
Frank Ricotti	....	musician: percussion
James Shearman	....	additional orchestrator
James Shearman	....	conductor
Nick Wollage	....	music engineer
Gavyn Wright	....	orchestra leader
Paul Kegg	....	musician: cello (uncredited)

Other crew
Julia Bennett	....	production coordinator
Mel Churcher	....	dialogue coach: additional scenes
Christian Colson	....	script executive: Miramax HAL Films
Richard Daldry	....	production runner
Bill Darby	....	location manager
Teresa Darby	....	assistant location manager
Tim Desbois	....	helicopter coordinator
Diana Dill	....	script supervisor
Jane Gibson	....	choreographer
Emma Hepple	....	horse master
Andrew Jack	....	dialogue coach
Greg Jordan	....	assistant location manager
Laura Madden	....	production coordinator: Miramax HAL Films
Liz Miller	....	unit publicist
Jack Murphy	....	assistant choreographer
Marcella Riordan	....	crowd adr
Mandy Todd	....	production secretary
Judd Watts	....	location assistant (as Oly Watts)
Susanna Wyatt	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• Arts Council of England (as The Arts Council of England)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (as BBC Films)
• HAL Films
• Miramax Films
• Miramax HAL Films Ltd.

Distributors

• Alliance Atlantis Communications (1999) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (1999) (USA) (theatrical)
• Indies Film Distribution (2000) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Filmverleih (2000) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Imagem Filmes (2001) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Imagem Filmes (2001) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2000) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Computer Film Company, The (CFC) (digital visual effects)
• Evolution FX

Other Companies

• Pinewood Studios  movie studio
• AFM Lighting  lighting
• Air Studios  music recorded at (as Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London)
• Flight Logistics Ltd.  aerial photography
• General Screen Enterprises  film opticals
• Hover-Cam  aerial photography
• J & J Catering  catering
• Kemistry  title sequence
• Movietech  camera equipment provided by
• Post Logic Studios  digital film mastering
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Sapex Scripts  post-production scripts
• Timber Tops  animals supplied by (as Timbertops)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief violent images, sexual content and drug use.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | USA:TV-14 (cable rating) | Australia:M | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Charlestown, Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Trivia:

The brown gown with a sheer white muslin overdress that Lindsay Duncan as Lady Bertram wears in the scene during which Fanny reads from the newspaper to the Bertram family is the same gown worn by Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice" (1995). Ehle wears the gown during the evening party at Mrs. Philips's house.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The music we hear does not correspond to the fingering of the harp. In particular, the lowest notes should sound from the longest strings, i.e. furthest away from the player, not as shown.

Quotes:

Fanny Price: And a woman's poverty is a slavery even more harsh than a man's.
Henry Crawford: Mm, arguable. But it need not be your lot. You can live out your days in comfort... with me.
Fanny Price: I know.
Henry Crawford: You do?
Fanny Price: Yes.
Henry Crawford: Is that a yes?
Fanny Price: Yes.
Henry Crawford: Is that the yes I have heard a hundred times in my heart but never from you? Oh, Fanny Price... You will learn to love me. Say it again.
Fanny Price: Yes.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Real Jane Austen (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Djongna (Slavery)

No thank you

Jane Austen's usual themes (love, snobbery, the place of women in society) are all addressed in this film of 'Mansfield Park', but fans of the book claim that the film is unfaithful to the original. Not having read it, I can't comment on that, but whereas I enjoyed Douglas McGrath's 'Emma' and Ang Lee's 'Sense and Sensibility' (both praised as faithful to their texts), 'Mansfield Park' is certainly less successful, losing coherence but gaining stridency compared to those works. In 'Emma', for example, the joy was in a precocious young heroine gradually learning that there were things she did not know; but haughty Fanny Price, the main character in this film, is always right, witty, invariably possessed of good judgment and anachronistic feminist attitudes - in other words, completely unbearable. Some of the dialogue seems similarly out of time, the young Fanny and her sister are inexplicably played by a couple of self-consciously adorable American kids, and audience is consistently encouraged to apply modern values to judge the characters. Other things also seem odd (Fanny has lived with the family for many years, but they continually treat her as if she had just arrived; the social placement of Fanny, her aunt and mother are never explained; and as Fanny and the leading male are mutually in love throughout the story, it's hard to see why it takes them a whole film to get together).

If one scene serves as a good example of what's wrong with this film, it's when Fanny catches a suitor in flagrante with another woman. Jane Austen wrote highly subtle dissections of the social structures around her, disguised in the form of acceptable romances - that's the merit of her work. The beauty of the story lies in the form of its telling. The absence of explicit sex from (some) old books isn't necessarily a failing, just as you don't necessarily improve a classic thriller by remaking it with bigger guns and louder explosions. It's a small scene, but one senses that director Roezma doesn't really understand her own material. A disappointment.