I finally saw Canadian director Patricia Rozema’s MANSFIELD PARK last week. I enjoyed it – she’s a really good director – but Fanny was too pretty for my taste, looking directly at the camera doesn’t work for me – and as much as I’m usually a fan of interpolating other lost or lesser-known material from an author’s work into adaptations for performance, in this case, I thought it made Fanny far too confident too early to have her quoting Austen’s “History Of England.” It did elaborate her relationship with Susie, though.

Fanny, at least the Fanny of the novel, never struck me as being independent-minded enough to do anything like write satiric history. But this was one fly in an otherwise great ointment. I admire Rozema for adapting Austen so well – and I’m sure if I live long enough, I’ll eventually create a less than faithful adaptation of an adored novel which will drive people wild but satisfy me.

Austen.com has a fantastic list of all the times in the book that Fanny is actually crying – fourteen times.

Has Patricia really not made a full-length film since 2000? She’s way too good for that! And is her next project, as IMDB claims, honest-to-god-really “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery??” Although with Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine playing Kit, I just might have to go see it.