at the rating of this film as well as the overwhelmingly positive messages on the board. I've even read some that claimed that this was a "great adaptation" of Austen's novel! I have one question...has ANYONE here read the novel at ALL? For that matter, did the screenwriters read the book? The director? The ACTORS? First, allow me to acknowledge that MP is the most sexual of Austen's books, dealing with Edmund's purely physical attraction to Mary, Fanny's rather incestuous love of Edmund (yes, I know that it was not strange to marry one's cousins in that time period, but her fraternal and romantic feelings are rather mixed up), the whole thing with Maria and Henry, and Mary's outward acknowledgment of it - she insists that the only way to get Henry to marry Maria is to let them keep living together, at which suggestion Edmund is properly horrified.<br /><br />However, Fanny Price was never, at any time in the book, witty, sharp-tongued, or sarcastic. She was clever and affectionate, but mild-mannered, sweet, and cripplingly shy. In fact, it's specifically stated in the book that Henry's persistence is due to Fanny's mildness and sweetness of manner, which makes her seem reluctant to refuse him. Not to mention that she was NINE YEARS OLD when she first got to Mansfield. Austen was fond of Fanny - she is the only heroine to whom the authoress refers to as her own ("my Fanny") - but she was not meant to be a representation of Austen herself. From all letters and descriptions written by her family and friends, she appears to have been nearer to Elizabeth and Jane of Pride and Prejudice.<br /><br />I have no idea of the entertainment value of this movie, as I was too paralyzed with horror at what they had done to one of the most carefully-nuanced, well-written works in the English language by turning it into a disgusting farce. Bleargh. I'd give the movie a zero, but IMDb won't let me.