Bright Star

Bright Star is a 2009 Jane Campion film which follows the romance between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Fanny meets Keats through the Dilke family, who occupy one half of a double house. In the other half, Keats lives with Charles Brown (Paul Schneider), a fellow writer. At first, Fanny and Keats' attitudes seem polar opposite; Fanny is flirtatious and bold, whereas Keats is slightly more aloof. However, time progresses and they seem fond of one another, until Brown sends Fanny a Valentine card in jest, but Keats refuses to believe this. However, as history tells us, Keats and Fanny are reunited and fall deeply in love, leading to tragedy with Keats' untimely death at the age of just 25.

This film reminded me a little of Possession, although actually (probably) true, what with the slightly possessive best friend in the shape of Charles Brown and a partnership which is generally frowned upon by those around Fanny. Of course, tragedy mars entire film, as we know that Keats died of tuberculosis. Campion doesn't allow for the romance to grow too passionate and unbelievable, it is gentle but remains passionate and really lovely; Whishaw and Cornish had great chemistry as the central character. Keats is one of the (few) poets whose work I really enjoy; you can feel emotion in his beautiful poems and hearing it dispersed throughout the film was lovely, especially the titular 'Bright Star' sonnet, which is beautiful.

I loved the 'look' of the film as well; whilst it could have been just a BBC adaptation, Campion and I would guess cinematographer Grieg Fraser, leant a dream-like quality to the film that made it even more perfect. Janet Patterson's costume design was lovely as well; Keats staying in pretty much the same clothes throughout pointed out his economically troubled situation, and Fanny's constantly changing dresses and hats showed her creativity and interest in fashion. Plus, Mark Bradshaw's music really added to the film, and wasn't overly violins and overly used.

Abbie Cornish's performance as Fanny is wonderful, she has a flawless English accent (she's Australian) and she brings a gentle passion to her character, and her pain at the loss of Keats is wonderfully realised. Opposite her as Keats, Ben Whishaw is also great, I could watch him in anything, he manages to bring a seriousness to the role as well as having a sense of humour; randomly dancing jigs in a pretend kilt or playing with Fanny's siblings (Edie Martin & Thomas Brodie-Sangster). Another great performance was Paul Schneider's who despite being American has a great Scottish accent and was good as Brown, a seemingly cruel and overbearing presence in Keats' life, who ends the film almost as distraught as Fanny herself.

I highly recommend Bright Star; it's a lovely little film about a gorgeous relationship with added literature elements.