Patricia Rozema's Mansfield park

TAKE ONE, Dec-Feb, 1999 by Barbara Goslawski

The bubble burst, however, with the release of Rozema's second feature White Room (1990), sending her career on a roller-coaster ride from which she is finally recovering. White Room was generally panned by critics and ignored by audiences. Despite its reception, the film is ultimately her most powerful statement on the fragility of private space and the dangers of disturbing it. Rozema's third feature, When Night is Falling (1995), often touted as her most autobiographical film, refashions the Cupid and Psyche myth into a sumptuous and celebratory lesbian romance. There's something fable-like in this tale of self-awareness as well, as Rozema transforms a simple love story into a classic tale of self-discovery and the true nature of love. Camille (Pascale Bussieres), gives every appearance of a stable and conservative existence: she teaches mythology at a Christian college, is engaged to a theology professor (Henry Czerny), and together they are about to be promoted. However, along comes Petra (Rachel Crawford), a performer in the Sirkus of Sorts, to awaken her sexuality and whisk her away from a life to which she ultimately does not belong. When Night Is Falling was better received than White Room, especially by the public who continually chose the film as audience favourite at a remarkable number of festivals worldwide.

In between features, Rozema was involved in a couple of omnibus film projects. As part of the Montreal vu par ... (1991), she made "Desperanto" (or "Let Sleeping Girls Lie") starring Sheila McCarthy as a mild-mannered Anglo housewife who finds adventure in Montreal. Rozema also directed "Six Gestures," the sixth part of Rhombus Media's Yo-Yo Ma, Inspired by Bach (1997). "Six Gestures," which won the Golden Rose Award at the annual Montreux Television Festival and a 1998 Emmy, is, as Rozema describes, "an annotated, illustrated essay," featuring a continuous monologue by Bach (acted by Tom McCamus) interwoven with Yo-Yo Ma's performance and an ice dance by skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

Rozema ventured outside the world of Canadian filmmaking to make her latest film, Mansfield Park, a big-budget adaptation of Jane Austen's third novel of the same name, produced in the United Kingdom by Miramax. Asked what it was like working with a big budget finally, she joked that it was "like driving an ocean liner--no quick turns; a sense of stability." Rozema admits that she did feel a greater "sense of artistic freedom" which manifested itself in a different working style that was more spontaneous. She is proud of the fact that Mansfield Park came in on budget and is quick to credit her experiences as an independent filmmaker and producer in Canada. "Canada is an unbelievably excellent training ground for working within a budget," she explains, "because you get your $2 million from Telefilm, and if you make it for $2.2, you're going to have to come up with $200,000 somewhere--it's just not an option."

Mansfield Park as written and directed by Patricia Rozema, however, almost did not happen. Miramax's Harvey Weinstein approached her with an already completed script, which he asked her to direct. "I refused it. The script was boring," she says. "It was a very earnest, literal adaptation." After explaining why she didn't like the script and what she thought would work instead, she was invited to write her own. "I very sincerely thought that it was going to just be an interesting, challenging writing exercise," she admits. Nevertheless, she wrote in isolation for seven months, without any contact or interference from Miramax, and when she submitted her script, they accepted it immediately. Several months later, she had moved with her partner, composer Leslie Barber, and their daughter Jacoba, to England and she was shooting Mansfield Park. Rozema recalls, with great enthusiasm, the experience of making this film, even joking that "shooting period pieces is such a joy in England. They relish their history so. It's preserved and pickled all around them."