If you plan to watch this film (or have already watched it and are dissatisfied with it,) try to step back a bit from the Jane Austen novel as it was written (and additionally, the faithful-to-the-novel adaptation in the 1983 6-part mini-series) and try to look at it the way you would a well-written piece of fan fiction. The characters and their basic story lines remain somewhat the same: they have the same beginnings, same names and backgrounds and the same final, end-of-story resolutions, but their personalities and attitudes as well as many of the significant incidents are given a somewhat different treatment. Fanny is the most altered; she has more spunk (waaaaaaaay more spunk, possibly more than is easy to forgive for die-hard Austen fans) and Frances O'Conner is more attractive than Fanny seems to be described in the novel (or as portrayed by the actress in the mini-series.) She is also fashioned a bit as a reflection of Jane Austen herself as a writer of love stories, and even a very subjective POV of a "History of England" novel much like that actually written by Miss Austen as a teenager. Sir Thomas' character is written a little darker and of course the slavery issue becomes one of the centerpieces of the story, something that was glossed over so lightly in the novel and the mini-series that it was barely noticeable. Indeed, it may be brought too much forward to forgive for die-hard Austen fans. I will leave it to others who are better informed and educated than I am to decide whether the 1990's politically-correct ideologies of the young people in this early 19th century story seem unrealistically anachronistic.
However, as a movie by itself, viewed as "inspired by" rather than "based upon" the novel, it works very well. It is interesting and the characters and "enhanced" story lines are mostly well-thought out. Tom Bertram, Jr. is a tortured "artiste," and is not just an idle playboy, but one who is desperately trying to distract himself from the great burden of guilt he carries regarding how his family's fortune is made on the sweat, tears and broken backs of forced, slave labor. The only characters who really do remain truthful to the novel are Lady Bertram and Aunt Norris. I like that it is brought right out in the open that Lady B is a borderline alcoholic (if she hasn't actually crossed over that line.) While Edmund is portrayed still very closely to how he was originally written, he, too, is given a little more of an edge. A little side observation: Embeth Davidtz, who plays Mary Crawford, so much resembles Jackie Smith-Wood, who played the same character in the '83 mini-series that she could be Smith-Wood's daughter (or at least her much-younger sister.)
The ladies' costumes are gorgeous, the prettiest I've ever seen in any Jane Austen film/TV adaptation. If you want a real treat of the history of the ladies' costumes in nearly every, single Regency Period film/TV adaptation made in the last 40 years, check out the "Trivia" section of this title page, as well as the Trivia sections of all the title pages of all the Regency Period TV/films since about 1970. Someone went to a great deal of effort to catalog all of them in minute detail.
However, as a movie by itself, viewed as "inspired by" rather than "based upon" the novel, it works very well. It is interesting and the characters and "enhanced" story lines are mostly well-thought out. Tom Bertram, Jr. is a tortured "artiste," and is not just an idle playboy, but one who is desperately trying to distract himself from the great burden of guilt he carries regarding how his family's fortune is made on the sweat, tears and broken backs of forced, slave labor. The only characters who really do remain truthful to the novel are Lady Bertram and Aunt Norris. I like that it is brought right out in the open that Lady B is a borderline alcoholic (if she hasn't actually crossed over that line.) While Edmund is portrayed still very closely to how he was originally written, he, too, is given a little more of an edge. A little side observation: Embeth Davidtz, who plays Mary Crawford, so much resembles Jackie Smith-Wood, who played the same character in the '83 mini-series that she could be Smith-Wood's daughter (or at least her much-younger sister.)
The ladies' costumes are gorgeous, the prettiest I've ever seen in any Jane Austen film/TV adaptation. If you want a real treat of the history of the ladies' costumes in nearly every, single Regency Period film/TV adaptation made in the last 40 years, check out the "Trivia" section of this title page, as well as the Trivia sections of all the title pages of all the Regency Period TV/films since about 1970. Someone went to a great deal of effort to catalog all of them in minute detail.