 "Photo: Courtesy of touchstone")
"Bright Star," the newest film by acclaimed director Jane Campion ("The Piano"), is a lush, dreamy drama about the ill-fated romance between poet John Keats and young beauty Fanny Brawne. The film is beautiful but languid, with the pace of an English country brook, but it is the perfect contemplative style for this tale of tragic love and poetry in the gorgeous English landscape.
In 1818 near London, the 23-year-old poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) is staying with his friend and fellow poet Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider), where they seek a quiet country setting in which to work. Next door are pleasant, friendly neighbors, the Brawne family, which includes 17-year-old Fanny (Abbie Cornish).
Pretty Fanny is exceedingly proud of the fashions she designs and makes herself but Brown warns Keats against letting her distract him, describing her as shallow, vain and uninterested in poetry. The harsh description may actually be prompted by Brown's unacknowledged romantic interest in Fanny.
Despite his attraction, Brown relentlessly ridicules Fanny whenever she and her family visit, mocking her interest in clothing and her needlework skills. Upset, Fanny nevertheless is no pushover and tartly responds that at least she can make a living with her work, unlike their poetry. Fanny truly knows little of poetry but she is attracted to the handsome Keats. Disapproval by Brown, and her mother's (Kerry Fox) worries regarding any involvement with the penniless if talented poet, leads Keats and Fanny to conversations in secret.
Director Jane Campion, who also wrote the screenplay, handles this kind of historical drama of confining social rules and romantic tensions like no one else. With "Bright Star," she contrasts the lovely pastoral countryside, gracious manners and beautiful young people with harsh realities of life, death, wealth and poverty in the early nineteenth century. Unlike many films about historic figures where you get little of the art that made them famous, "Bright Star" has a wonderful sprinkling of Keats' poetry.
The setting is a lushly romantic English countryside. Every shot looks as gorgeous as an oil painting masterpiece. Colors are vibrant, costumes are gorgeous, and physical beauty suffuses the film in the attractive lead actors and the location. Attention to detail and tiny visual flourishes embroider this haunting film. The lighting is dramatic, and the photography striking.
The tale is tragic but muted, in contrast to the glorious visual surroundings. The ill-fated romance about two beautiful, young people works as drama, thanks to the skill of the director and these fine actors.
Handsome Ben Whishaw, who starred in the little-seen but haunting "Perfume" as a medieval serial killer, is tender, shy and courtly as the gifted poet. Abbie Cornish-looking gorgeous and fresh as well-is marvelous as Fanny, growing from a self-absorbed teen into a caring young woman. Paul Schneider, who was so very good in the under-rated "Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Ford," as the sometimes devious Brown, is strikingly good in a pivotal role that provides a counterpoint to the reserved Keats.
The pace of "Bright Star" is contemplative but it suits the subject and the small, confined world of this drama. For those who love poetry, romance and historical drama and do not have to have fast-pacing, Jane Campion's "Bright Star" is an excellent choice. It is now playing exclusively at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema. A -Cate Marquis
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