bright star

"I cannot say forget me, but I would mention that there are impossibilities in the world."

Wrote John Keats to his love Fanny Brawne during one of the many separations they suffered through during their three year romance. Keats and Brawne are the subject of Jane Campion's new film Bright Star that focuses on Keats' poetry and relationship with Brawne. Though Keats has since become one of the most revered Romantic poets of all time (I had no clear recollection of his poems, though I'm sure I read them in high school), when he was alive he was painfully poor and lacking the social status needed to marry Brawne. And so their love is a tragic one, even before Keats becomes deathly ill.

I wanted to see Bright Star because I love another Campion film, The Piano, and had read glowing reviews of Bright Star. I was not disappointed. Keats' poems are integrated masterfully into the movie, and the cinematography is staggering in every single scene. The film spans three years, and every changing season appeared more beautiful than the last. Campion's captures of stark trees in winter and blooming flowers in spring fields were breathtaking.

The line I featured at the top of this post resonated with me as soon as I heard it. Brawne is loyal to Keats beyond normal romantic devotion, and her love for him is all-consuming. Their relationship is sad, and both actors do a great job of portraying it. Abby Cornish as Brawne is especially excellent, her crying scenes are believable and gut-wrenching, unlike so many unrealistic scenes of sobbing in movies.

So here is the trailer. Campion has made a movie that matches the grace and poignancy of the poetry it's about.