Kiwi director Jane Campion's (The Piano) drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. Keats considered himself a failure in his own lifetime, but he was later "discovered" and revered as one of the great Romantic poets.
Bright Star was a hit at Cannes and opened the 2009 New Zealand International Film Festival.
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83%178 reviews
Breaking through any period-piece mustiness with piercing insight into the emotions and behavior of her characters, the writer-director examines the final years in the short life of 19th-century romantic poet John Keats through the eyes of his beloved, Fanny Brawne, played by Abbie Cornish in an outstanding performance.
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Director Jane Campion has a knack for portraying female characters so intimately that she seems to get beneath their skin. She does it again in Bright Star, an exquisite piece of film-making about the doomed romance between the poet John Keats and his neighbour Fanny Brawne.
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Forget The Piano. Jane Campion's calm, subtle and measured film about Keats is the best of her career.
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What Campion does is seek visual beauty to match Keats' verbal beauty. There is a shot here of Fanny in a meadow of blue flowers that is so enthralling it beggars description.
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Easily Campion's best film, it deserves to be remembered as one of the best films ever about love.
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There will be some who may find Bright Star a little too slow and I can understand that feeling. My advice is, nestle back in your big cinema seat with a glass of red wine or a big box of popcorn, make yourself comfortable, and let the romance and poetry wash over you.
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Masterfully put-together, made with confidence, intelligence and command.
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Campion has created another resonant paean to love’s pain and joy, and gives new life to John Keats, too often now associated with dusty school books.
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