"Bright Star" is a filmed biography of the poet John Keats, concentrating on his romantic relationship with Fanny Brawne during the last three years of his life. The story opens in 1818 when Keats and Fanny are introduced to one another while he is staying at the Hampstead home of his friend Charles Brown, and ends with his death from tuberculosis in Rome three years later. The title is derived from a sonnet by Keats named "Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art". (I keep the original spelling). The poem is believed to have been inspired by that romance and, although the reference in its opening line is clearly to a literal star, not a metaphorical one, Fanny has become known as Keats's "bright star".
Recent years have seen a glut of films based on the novels of Keats's older contemporary Jane Austen, and these may have served as the inspiration for another film with a literary theme set against a Regency background. The film was directed by Jane Campion, who has made a number of other films with a literary or historical background, such as "An Angel at My Table" (a biography of the writer Janet Frame), "The Piano" (set in 19th century New Zealand), and "Portrait of a Lady" (based upon a novel by Henry James).
As portrayed by Abbie Cornish, Fanny is a young lady of good family, obsessed with fashion and with creating dresses, hats, and other garments for herself. She is also flirtatious and seemingly shallow, a strange match for the more intellectual Keats. Another possible obstacle to their union is that Keats comes from a relatively humble background and fears that, because of the difference in their social standing, Fanny's family will not welcome him as a prospective match for her. As the film progresses, however, we begin to see more of Fanny's more serious side, and she and Keats fall deeply in love.
I didn't care much for Ben Whishaw's performance in the first film I saw him in, "Perfume" from 2006, but he has certainly improved as an actor since then, on the basis of both this film and "Brideshead Revisited". Here he plays Keats as a rather quiet young man, externally aloof and reserved but deeply passionate underneath.
As one might expect of a film from Campion on this particular theme, there is little in the way of physical action; the film deals more with emotional states and with the growth of love between Keats and Fanny. Like a number of British period dramas, the film is not only visually attractive but also sensitive and poetic and, in its tragic conclusion, deeply moving. A most enjoyable evening's viewing. 7/10
Recent years have seen a glut of films based on the novels of Keats's older contemporary Jane Austen, and these may have served as the inspiration for another film with a literary theme set against a Regency background. The film was directed by Jane Campion, who has made a number of other films with a literary or historical background, such as "An Angel at My Table" (a biography of the writer Janet Frame), "The Piano" (set in 19th century New Zealand), and "Portrait of a Lady" (based upon a novel by Henry James).
As portrayed by Abbie Cornish, Fanny is a young lady of good family, obsessed with fashion and with creating dresses, hats, and other garments for herself. She is also flirtatious and seemingly shallow, a strange match for the more intellectual Keats. Another possible obstacle to their union is that Keats comes from a relatively humble background and fears that, because of the difference in their social standing, Fanny's family will not welcome him as a prospective match for her. As the film progresses, however, we begin to see more of Fanny's more serious side, and she and Keats fall deeply in love.
I didn't care much for Ben Whishaw's performance in the first film I saw him in, "Perfume" from 2006, but he has certainly improved as an actor since then, on the basis of both this film and "Brideshead Revisited". Here he plays Keats as a rather quiet young man, externally aloof and reserved but deeply passionate underneath.
As one might expect of a film from Campion on this particular theme, there is little in the way of physical action; the film deals more with emotional states and with the growth of love between Keats and Fanny. Like a number of British period dramas, the film is not only visually attractive but also sensitive and poetic and, in its tragic conclusion, deeply moving. A most enjoyable evening's viewing. 7/10