Bright Star (2009)

Genre: Drama, Romance
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox,
Director: Jane Campion

This is not just “another movie” about love, but a film about love and poetry, which we rarely have the occasion to see. Although the film does not include fight scenes or massive special effects, it succeeds to enchant us with the complexity and sensibility of the 19th century society.

Inspired by the biography of the poet John Keats, written by Andrew Motion, Bright Stars depicts, quite faithfully, the last three years of the poet’s life, before he died from tuberculosis in Italy. The movie revolves around the love story between the poet and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, and as any other imperishable love story, theirs too is a forbidden one, because he was just a poet without any stabile income, and she was a penniless fashion passionate, who according to the time canons had to marry well. Due to the same strict society rules, Keats and Fanny had to hide their passion for each other and to invent every time new reasons to meet. Even Keats’s best friend, Charles Brown, played by Paul Schneider, was against their affaire thinking that their love interfered with Keats creation.

The title of the movie has a story of its own encoded in Keats’s sonnet, with the same name “Bright Star”, which was written during the poet’s affair with Fanny Brawne. In this way, the film invites us to discover Keats the poet and Keats the man in love. Those interested in reading the entire sonnet can read it here .

The language itself plays an important part in the movie, as the actors succeed to create the 19th century England atmosphere only through wordplay. The film is filled with fragments from Keats’s sonnets, which are, at first, a link between the two main characters and later, a reason for their meetings.

Although the movie was released in U.S.A. this September at the “Telluride Film Festival”, and the number of visions was limited, it has succeeded to catch the attention of the public immediately. The director and also the writer of the screenplay, Jane Campion (also known for the movie “Piano”) has done a terrific job in casting the lead roles to Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish.

I wouldn’t say that this is a romantic movie, but a film filled with palpable passion. So, if you want to see a meadow filled with blue flowers or a room filled with butterflies you have to see this movie.

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