Film Analysis Sheet: Northanger Abbey

Director

Jon Jones

Country And Year Of Production: 

UK 2007

Duration

86 min

Genre

Comedy

Main Cast

Felicity Jones: Catherine Morland

JJ Field Henry Tilney

Carey Mulligan: Isabella Thorpe, Liam Cunningham: General Tilney.

Plot (General Theme of the Film, Initial Situation, Conclusion)

The general theme is the story of a girl of seventeen years old who lived in the countryside, daughter of a clergyman and a housewife.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen introduces Catherine to high society in Bath where she will meet her future husband, Henry Tilney and her sister Eleonor.

Catherine Morland loves reading gothic literature, she has a fervid imagination able to create new worlds. Northanger Abbey is the apex of her happiness, a place to exercise her fantasies.

We see a young girl happy and carefree, with a particular taste in a sport. In Bath, Catherine will meet Isabella Thorpe and her brother John Thorpe, and the entire Tilney family.

The key moments are the trip to Bath, then to Northanger Abbey, and finally the traumatic return home and marriage.

Catherine will discover that Isabella and her brother John are faux friends. The father of Henry was a mean and arrogant man.

The best people she will meet are Henry and Eleonor Tilney, Mr. and Mrs. Allen.

Events

Based on the Novel Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Narrative Techniques

In Chronological Order

Characters 

Protagonist

Caterina Morland is a pretty girl of 17 years old; she lived in the countryside with her family. Catherine is good-natured, a girl of her word, and believes in friendship. She has a vivid imagination and loves Gothic literature.

Antagonist

General Tilney is cruel and tyrannical, selfish, he is an educated English nobleman, he has no ideals.

Other Main Characters

Henry Tilney 

Unlike his father, Henry judges people based on their values.

Elenor Tilney

She is a thoughtful and honest girl.

Isabella Thorpe

Libertine, careerist, false, selfish.

John Thorpe 

Arrogant and selfish.

Captain Tilney is a military man handsome and womanizer.

James Morland

Brother of Catherine without a personality. submissive.

Mr. & Mrs. Morland and Mr.& Mrs. Allen is the perfect family in the world.

Language

Internal Narrator 

Editing: Slow

Shooting: Alternating between open and closed spaces

Film Message

Don't confuse imagination with reality

Personal Comment

In my opinion, the only Gothic scene is when Catherine is alone in her room at night, there's a storm outside, a lightning bolt knocks some very old papers off her hands, she falls asleep, and the next day she discovers that it was a laundry list. The message is to understand the differences between emotion (The Tempest) and rationality (The Sun).