Film: Bright Star (2009)'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'
“Bright Star”, directed by Acadamy Award winner Jane Campion (‘The Piano’) and starring Abbie Cornish ('Elizabeth: The Golden Age') and Ben Whishaw ('Brideshead Revisited') is a movie based on the life of the Poet, John Keats. The film is set in London, 1818 and follows the beautiful yet tragic love story between the famous English poet, Keats and the feisty and stylish Fanny Brawne.
As a teenager I was captivated by Keats work, his poems seem to echo words from deep within his soul and each line I read I felt in some way, transported into his world. When I first heard that a movie based on his life was in development I was a little sceptical. I wasn’t sure how it would affect me after watching it. Would I be able to read his poetry in the same way, would it still captivate me? Or would it ruin how I perceived Keats to be?
When I finally saw the trailer, I was pleasantly surprised- actually more than that, I was desperate to see it. Unfortunately the film was not playing in any theatres near me. I would have to wait the extra months until it was released on DVD. 3 months later the theatres had all stopped playing the film and I waiting rather impatiently for the DVD release until my mother found a small clipping in the paper, an advertisement for “A special one –time screening of: Bright Star” at our local theatre. I could have cried I was so happy!
The movie was in many ways much better than I could have hoped. Many people have told me that they think the beginning is a little slow, so please if you’re going to watch it, don’t judge it by the first part, stick it out because it gets better. The Cinematography is possibly the best I have seen and I think the scenery and colours compliment all that Keats wrote about in his poems. The costumes in this film are also gorgeous.
Ben Whishaw was wonderful as Keats, he was Keats. In the scenes where you hear the voice over of him reading the poem I felt his voice captured the tone and emotion that was needed for the character. However Abbey Cornish absolutely shined as Fanny, I felt everything she said, did and felt, she was simply stunning especially in the last few scenes of the film.
This movie is one of my favourites so there is not much that I can say I didn’t like about it however I found myself wishing to know more about Keats’ struggle in writing the poems, his writing blocks, how he developed his poems. I would also have liked to have heard more of his poems read throughout the course of the movie.
If you don’t want to watch a movie that is sad and will most likely make you cry. I suggest you don’t watch this. I cried so much (but then again I cried during ‘Bambi’ and ‘The Lion King’). Otherwise just take some tissues :)
