Bright Star

A film about the love affair of John Keats, one of the greatest Romantic poets, could easily have portrayed the emotional intensity that courses through his poetry as empty melodrama. However, in Bright Star, Jane Campion’s realisation of the relationship between Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his free-spirited neighbour Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), the director negotiates this minefield with elegance and ease to produce a film that is as much about Romanticism as it is about the poet in question. Ben Whishaw brings a subtle tenderness to the quiet character of Keats that never falls into hollow histrionics whilst the sumptuous cinematography takes in the peaceful beauty of the countryside surrounding Keats’ home (which was inspirational to so much of his work). Bright Star is a film whose sensibility may not appeal to everyone but for self-confessed Romantics, it’s a pure delight. [Gail Tolley]