Portrayal of Henry Crawford

When reading the novel Mansfield Park, I pictured Henry Crawford as an overly flirtatious and somewhat villainous character. He finds Maria more favorable of the sisters but knows he’s expected to capture Julia’s attention. In the novel he is portrayed more so like a man that holds the final word and makes the decisions regarding his private life. He comes off rather vain, arrogant and manipulative, hoping to make Fanny fall in love with him and be left in ruin. However, in the film, he seemed much more redeemable. He was moderately attractive and had a charm to him. His persistence fighting for Fanny seemed rather genuine and made me think I judged him too harshly in the novel. Its clear his character has serious flaws regardless and I think the director did an outstanding job portraying his scenes with Maria. I particularly liked the scene where he reads to Fanny and Maria is seen peering through the door with some jealousy. I think all the characters where portrayed slightly differently in my mind than on screen, like Edmund seemed to be immediately enthralled by Fanny, Fanny seemed too caustic and confident at times, and Mary Crawford had a really serpentine character in certain scenes. All the other characters however seemed to be on the mark aside from William who was entirely missing. Overall I really enjoyed the film and think that although there were slight adjustments made, it captured the novel as a whole pretty well.