Bright Star
Australia 2009, 119 mins
Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider, Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw
Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider, Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw
London 1818: a secret love affair begins between a 23-year-old poet, John Keats (Whishaw), and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne (Cornish), an outspoken student of fashion.
They were initially at odds with one another, he thinking her a stylish minx, and she unimpressed by literature in general.
But when Keats' younger brother falls ill, he is touched by Fanny's efforts to help and the two grow close.
By the time her alarmed mother finds out about their attachment, the relationship has an unstoppable momentum.
They only become more intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other as their troubles mount.
But Keats' own illness would prove insurmountable.
A sumptuous and wholly triumphant return to filmmaking for Jane Campion (THE PIANO, AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE, IN THE CUT).
