I agree with most of the reviews that Billie Piper was not a convincing, or perhaps I should say, correct choice for Fanny Price.
I really want to see a Fanny Price (written AND acted) who is strong in a QUIET way, just as Jane Austen presented her - and she IS strong in the book, standing her ground in refusing to marry Mr. Crawford even in the face of so much pressure - but it seems that screenwriters are ever afraid to present her as she is in the book. Do they think it would be beyond the capabilities of most actresses? Must Fanny Price always be written as a vivacious, playful, conscious of the wrongs done to her, sequel to Elizabth Bennet?
Can't I see a quiet woman who is pure without being puritanical, shy but still able to have strong convictions about right and wrong, accepting of her (low) place in the family without being resentful (as she was in the book), perceptive without being self-righteous about what she sees in others? (Sigh) It must be too hard, let's just stick a 21st century female in Mansfield Park and be done with it.
On the bright side, Blake Ritson is perfect. I look at him and it is as though an illustration of a Gentleman of the time has come alive and walked out into the world. And he manages to present so wonderfully the key to Edmund's character - that he is in love with an ideal, but does not see it lives right in front of him (in the person of Fanny) until after the heartbreak with Mary Crawford. I think those eyes... mmm, make women feel a little... naughty! Though I am sure Jane Austen would never write so, because of course as we all know sex did not exist back then ;)!
I really want to see a Fanny Price (written AND acted) who is strong in a QUIET way, just as Jane Austen presented her - and she IS strong in the book, standing her ground in refusing to marry Mr. Crawford even in the face of so much pressure - but it seems that screenwriters are ever afraid to present her as she is in the book. Do they think it would be beyond the capabilities of most actresses? Must Fanny Price always be written as a vivacious, playful, conscious of the wrongs done to her, sequel to Elizabth Bennet?
Can't I see a quiet woman who is pure without being puritanical, shy but still able to have strong convictions about right and wrong, accepting of her (low) place in the family without being resentful (as she was in the book), perceptive without being self-righteous about what she sees in others? (Sigh) It must be too hard, let's just stick a 21st century female in Mansfield Park and be done with it.
On the bright side, Blake Ritson is perfect. I look at him and it is as though an illustration of a Gentleman of the time has come alive and walked out into the world. And he manages to present so wonderfully the key to Edmund's character - that he is in love with an ideal, but does not see it lives right in front of him (in the person of Fanny) until after the heartbreak with Mary Crawford. I think those eyes... mmm, make women feel a little... naughty! Though I am sure Jane Austen would never write so, because of course as we all know sex did not exist back then ;)!