Austen Film Club > Likes and Comments

Let's talk movie, television, and play adaptions of the books. Compare, contrast, and share!

Thank you, Ahnya for the discussion topic.

lots of new versions coming out in 2026

I';m looking forward to The Other Bennet Sister mini series.

My local PBS station played this version of Mansfield Park and it was terrible, not a bit of humor:

https://www.amazon.com/Mansfield-Park...

That version seemed to take all the dark aspect of MP. I recall it focused on the slavery and cheating, and showcased the extreme difference between the haves and the have nots.

Great acting though!

I agree with the above! It does have
two merits. No Billie flippin Piper(MP 2007)!!!
Worse Austen casting ever!!! And I adore the ending! Narrator “it all
could have been different.” Stop Camera.
Pause. “But it wasn’t” Roll Camera!

I’m very fond of the Embeth Davitz film! But to like it I have to regard it as not so much a film adaptation as a conversation with Jane Austen about MP. Turning Fanny Price into a young Jane Austen was clever, and I like how the film drags into the open all the things that are implicit in MP.

The Billie Piper film is an excrescence on every level. The old 1980s BBC adaptation is not bad, though it suffers from the literalness of all the miniseries of that era.

Fun fact: Johnny Lee Miller, who plays Edmund Bertram in the Davitz film, also has a role as one of the Price boys in the 1980s film! (Not to mention that he plays Mr. Knightley in my favorite Emma adaptation, the one with Romola Garai.)

He was great in both! JA but 2 very different characters.

I agree! One of my favorite actors for portraying the humanity behind human frailties.

I have a fondness for that adaptation of Emma, particularly as we used to live in the village, Chilham, where it was primarily filmed.

What fun, Crafty! I grew up in Los Angeles and it always gave me a little thrill when a location shot in a film showed one of my haunts.

Interested in how people perceive the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility versus the Andrew Davies one. The Thompson one makes a lot of changes to the book, but manages to stay pretty close to the intent, I think; the Davies one has more time to develop the story, of course, though it retains some of the same changes Thompson made.

Actors? Mood? Styling?

I watched the 1980s one recently but didn’t think highly of it. It presented Elinor as a priss, and placed them in a rather grand “cottage.”

Abigail wrote: "What fun, Crafty! I grew up in Los Angeles and it always gave me a little thrill when a location shot in a film showed one of my haunts."

It made all of the locals smile as in the filming the coach turned the wrong way to get to the church each time (it was a more scenic view but took them to the pub instead!)

Jane Austen would have enjoyed the joke!

Abigail wrote: "Interested in how people perceive the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility versus the Andrew Davies one. The Thompson one makes a lot of changes to the book, but manages to stay pretty close to the ..."

Emma Thompson did an excellent interpretation of Elinor, but if I didn't know the book, I would have thought the older sister was 10-20 years older than Marianne.

At my age, I should not be ageist but, still ...

Abigail wrote: "Interested in how people perceive the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility versus the Andrew Davies one. The Thompson one makes a lot of changes to the book, but manages to stay pretty close to the ..."

Although S&S '95 was my first Austen, I rate them nearly equal. I wish Thompson had included Willasnake's return. But can live without it. And his look at the wedding from a distance at the end of '95, great image. I refer to S&S '95 as Marianne's story. '08 as Elinor's story. And as I've written a million plus times, Hattie and Dan are delightful together...especially in the DVD commentary. Fun fact...their bdays are very close together.

wosedwew wrote: "Abigail wrote: "Interested in how people perceive the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility versus the Andrew Davies one. The Thompson one makes a lot of changes to the book, but manages to stay pret..."

Ageist booooo, hiss :) Judge the performance, not the age!!!!

Kirk wrote: "Abigail wrote: "Interested in how people perceive the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility versus the Andrew Davies one. The Thompson one makes a lot of changes to the book, but manages to stay pret..."

Interesting, Kirk, I would have said that Elinor and Marianne get about equal attention in the 2008 version!

I like the actors in both but find the undertow of longing and vulnerability in 2008 more and more appealing, even though it’s more true to what Jane Austen didn’t say than to what’s on the page. I do object to some the heavy-handed images in ‘08 (the falconry bit, gag), but love some of the more out-there performances like Miss Steele’s and Sir John’s. Of course, ‘08 would not be what it is without Emma Thompson’s script, Davies borrows ideas shamelessly.