if this keeps up , jane austen ( sense and sensibility , pride and prejudice ) may have to apply for posthumous membership to the screen writers guild . yet another novel of hers has made the transition to the silver screen . mansfield park is a turn of the century ( 18th century going on 19th ) story about love among the classes as well as an examination into proper society and family ties . ten year old fanny price ( hannah taylor-gordon , jakob the liar ) , taken from her mother and father and the poverty in which they dwell , is sent to live with her aunt and the privileged class at mansfield park , under the stern patriarchal hand of her uncle , sir thomas bertram ( harold pinter , mojo ) spending her days reminded of her lower status , she also invents and writes fanciful stories during her private times . fanny eventually grows to become a beautiful , intelligent , and engaging heroine ( quite unlike the original character which ms . austen originally penned in her novel . ) writer/director patricia rozema ( when night is falling ) is responsible for the textual changes . from a purely dramatic perspective , the revision <POS> makes perfect sense and improves the film's audience appeal </POS> . what ms . rozema has done is to infuse the main character with much of ms . austen's own personality by including excerpts from the author's journals , giving that dialogue to fanny . the result is <POS> a central character that is immediately appealing </POS> . as the grown fanny , australian actress frances o'connor ( all about adam ) <POS> does wonderfully textured work </POS> . at times , ms . rozema has fanny address the camera directly to communicate many of the novel's more introspective observations . this is a difficult device to work seamlessly into a period film and it is to ms . o'connor's credit that it works as well as it does . the central theme which gives the story its legs in an old one . . . whether it is better to marry for love or for social standing ? fanny has fallen in love with her cousin edmund ( jonny lee miller , plunkett & macleane ) who appears fond of her as well . his attentions are soon divided as the stylish and socially acceptable mary crawford ( embeth davidtz , bicentennial man ) enters the picture along with her equally acceptable brother henry ( alessandro nivola , inventing the abbotts ) who eventually sets his romantic sights upon fanny . while mary and henry are evidently less than sincere in their affections , their presence does provide the movie and the main characters with the necessary conflict that <POS> keeps our interest until the film's appropriately austen-like ending </POS> . other thematic devices include a awkwardly inserted reference to the source of the wealth of mansfield park . . . the slave trade . there is also a hint of both lesbianism and incest but neither is carried very far and is soon forgotten . the motivation for marriage remains the primary thematic thrust . fanny's cousin , maria bertram ( victoria hamilton , persuasion ) is an example of one making a poor match , marrying a well-to-do fool who is able to make her comfortable , but never happy . fanny's own mother , trapped in her chosen life of squalor warns fanny by admitting that her situation is due to the fact that she " married for love . " fanny , given those two terrible examples , and faced with the same choice is understandably indecisive as to which way to lean . the spiritual answer , of course , lies in the middle of those two extremes . marriage is not a cold , calculating decision based upon self-preservation . neither is it a senseless decision made in the warm afterglow of a passionate embrace . in the purest sense , marriage forms an insoluble union whereby two people agree to function as one . " and said , for this cause shall a man leave father and mother , and shall cleave to his wife : and they twain shall be one flesh ? " matthew 19 : 5 [kjv] love and logic can be combined . god's word contains both . so does a marriage based upon his truth .
