tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Starring: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider, Thomas Sangster, Samuel Barnett
Director: Jane Campion
Release Date: October 15, 2009
Running Time: 119 min
MPAA Rating: PG
Distributor: Jan Chapman Pictures, BBC Films, Hopscotch Productions

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Character, says Heraclitus, is fate. In the case of English poet John Keats, character might also be manifested in the physical.

The tragedy (the affliction of tuberculosis) that runs in his family, which has also manifested unto him, made Keats frail and emaciated, and just like everything in his short life, even love ends in tragedy.

Acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion's latest offering, Bright Star, tells the love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Playing the ill-fated lovers are Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw in career-defining performances.

Following the death of his grandmother, John Keats (Ben Whishaw) soon found his brother, Tom Keats (Olly Alexander), entrusted to his care. Tom was suffering, as his mother had, from tuberculosis. Finishing his epic poem Endymion, Keats left to walk in Scotland and Ireland with his friend Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider). However, he too began to show signs of tuberculosis infection on that trip, and returned prematurely. When he did, he found that Tom's condition had deteriorated, and that Endymion had, as had poems before it, been the target of much abuse from the critics. On 1 December 1818, Tom Keats died of his disease, and John Keats moved again, to live in Brown's house in Hampstead, next to Hampstead Heath. There he lived next door to Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), who had been staying there with her mother.

He then quickly fell in love with Fanny. However, it was overall an unhappy affair for the poet; the ardour of Keats for her seemed to bring him more vexation than comfort. This relationship was cut short when, by 1820, Keats began showing serious signs of tuberculosis, the disease that had plagued his family. On the suggestion of his doctors, he left the cold airs of London behind and moved to Italy with his friend Joseph Severn (Samuel Barnett). In Rome, despite attentive care from Severn and Dr. John Clark, the poet's health rapidly deteriorated. He died on 23 February 1821 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. In the diary of Fanny Brawne was found only one sentence regarding the separation: "Mr. Keats has left Hampstead." Fanny's letters to Keats were, as the poet had requested, destroyed upon his death. However, in 1937, a collection of 31 letters, written by Fanny Brawne to the sister of Keats, Frances, was published by Oxford University Press. While these letters revealed the depth of Brawne's feelings toward Keats and in many ways attempted to redeem her rather promiscuous reputation, it is arguable whether or not they succeeded.

Jane Campion's latest movie lacks melodrama, is beautiful, luminous and inspiring. It lacks sex, but is deep and intimate. It lacks special effects, but is authentic, painful and unforgettable. Looking back, I expected a lot from this film - aside from the terrific cast, I have never been disappointed by Jane Campion. Watching The Portrait of a Lady and The Piano gave me the impression that Campion is a formidable director, capable of making movies deep and dramatic, and can withstand the test of time. I was not disappointed.

In Bright Star, Abbie Cornish is the undisputed star. And so, Cornish has finally given audiences and critics the true depth and dimension of her talents - as Fanny Brawne she is both sublime and subdued, enchanting and mysterious, powerful and enduring. Ben Whishaw also succeeded as John Keats - as a frail young men of 23 who is dedicated to poetry, he was unassuming and vulnerable, but very passionate about life and love.

The exploration of Keats and Brawne's relationship is passionate, bitter and sad to the very end. Can sadness and tragedy inspire? In the case of Bright Star, it can.

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