Adaptatations from novels of brilliance are particularly difficult. And when you tackle novels so well loved as Jane Austen's, those difficulties can turn into absolute pitfalls.
Trouble is, everyone has their own definite ideas of just how Jane Austen's heroines should be played, whether they are Elisabeth, Emma or Fanny. Retell the novels too literally, and they drag. Take them apart, deconstruct them to hell and back, and the world will scream you down.
I just wrote those words for another review on this website -- for Mansfield Park. It's called recycling.
Difference is, while the television adaptatioin of Mansfield Park brings cogency and life to the screen in due service to Jane Austen's novel, this adaptation just drags.
It's a faithful telling of the tale, but it's dull, dull, dull. Watch it, and the danger is that you'll not only be scared away from the several very good adaptations of Jane Austen's novels which are out there in the marketplace today, but you may also be scared away forever from the brilliant novels themselves.
This television production dates from 1981 but I suspect it was just as slow and plodding and over-reverential then as it is now. The more modern Emma Thompson Hollywood movie version is a far better adaptation; seek out that one instead.
