Mansfield Park does suffer from very “period” attitudes, although not as much as its detractors claim. You will see moments below where I have softened the characters’ behaviors somewhat to plug plot holes or smooth over stuff that tends to rub modern readers the wrong way. I personally feel like the novel suffers more from not enough forward momentum and too much thousand-foot-view of what’s going on; we’re often told what’s happening in general terms without citing specific incidents. Mansfield Park also has a highly intrusive, somewhat fourth-wall-breaking narrator who delights in telling the reader about hypothetical alternative outcomes.

In a word, the best solution to filming Mansfield Park is to go full Princess Bride…

I’m starting with my take on the characters, as for P&P. All the characters of Mansfield Park itself should be able to swing between a somewhat more stylized, off-kilter performance for reasons that will become obvious in the next post, and a more naturalistic performance for the actual events of the story.