Bright Star (2009)

Directed by Jane Campion

(4 out of 4)

 

Review by Luke Gorham: ”Bright Star,” Jane Campion’s visually luscious period romance, tells the story of poet John Keats (impish British actor Ben Whishaw), and his immortalized love affair with one-time neighbor and muse, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). The film, which derives its title from a poem Keats dedicated to Brawne, succeeds, on one level, due to Campion’s decision to avoid biopic tropes. Rather than including Keats’ life prior to and even apart from Brawne – specifically his medical training, his relationship with his tuberculosis-stricken brother, and even (with few minor exceptions) his specific literary pursuits – Campion's focus is placed squarely on the love story that became  motivation for the work of one of the most celebrated romantic writers of all time.

Campion sets the film inside the house of Keats’ dearest friend and poetic peer, Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider), and inside the neighboring home of Fanny Brawne’s mother, never allowing the framework of her narrative to leave this established setting even when central characters do. When Keats visits the city, the film remains in Hampstead with the Brawnes and Brown. From this, it becomes clear that “Bright Star” is not your typical biopic as the camera abandons its most notable character during his absences, and the exploration of Brawne goes little further than her love for Keats. During these stretches, the couple's mutual adoration is realized through letters read like narrations, a beautifully affecting touch to a romance primarily built upon – and certainly immortalized through – these expressions of love. This technique also allows the film to become a pure love story, one unburdened by the typical contextualization of many period pieces or made more grandiose by the celebrated status of its characters.

Much of the success of the film lies in Campion’s handling of its themes. What she seems to prize and what shines through in the film is the reflective beauty of such an innocent and pure affection. In one of his most beloved poems, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Keats expresses his belief that the best and most emotive moments in life are those immediately preceding the attainment of desire. In Keats’ eyes, to stay frozen in these moments would be Heaven. Campion understands this completely, and her vision of this doomed love is one rife with unadulterated moments of heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking purity. Brawne and Keates never consummate their love, but indulge themselves in the first signs of their affections so freely and so openly as to border on naiveté. And yet, the film avoids cynical condemnations of their relationship as Campion meticulously recreates the moments and the minutiae of her lovers' romance, perfectly capturing the philosophy of the final words in Keats’ 'Ode': "Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

The various technical achievements of the film well compliment Campion’s vision and sensibilities. As do the performances: Abbie Cornish especially is phenomenal, conveying mixed determination and vulnerability, and establishing Brawne (only 18 in the film) as a truly fascinating young woman. The actor perfectly portrays her as an intelligent and somewhat cynical proto-feminist, particularly during her interactions with Brown where her pride fights against her desire to impress a man so arrogant and sexist. Brawne is defiantly ambitious and progressive, making the dissolution of her exterior callousness when she's with Keats all the more touching. Likewise, Whishaw is pitch-perfect as Keats, abandoning all hints of ego or overreaching for a much subtler exploration of the king of romantic poetry. He plays the author not as a man assured in love, but as a man scared and unsettled by the power it holds over him – Whishaw’s Keats is a man slowly discovering that everything he thought he knew amounts to little in the face of this new, incomprehensible emotional turmoil waging inside of him. It’s the perfect complement to Paul Schneider’s turn as poet Charles Armitage Brown, whose character is built upon confidence and intellectual superiority (the film’s most showy performance, and executed with only the occasional misstep in delivery by Schneider).

Even the smaller elements in “Bright Star” shine. The score throughout is one of the most beautiful in recent years, whether it be the repeated background melodies of an early a cappella choir or the sparse, nonintrusive splendor of the film’s more emotionally heightened second half. Equally as beautiful are David Hindle’s art direction and D.P. Greig Fraser’s close-up heavy camerawork, knowingly pulling back at all the right moments to emphasize the film’s emotional breadth and exquisite beauty. In fact, Campion’s handling of all the technical elements is impressive, particularly during the very Malickian midsection of the film, one that captures the intimacy of budding love through dialogue-free, score-driven sequences of deftly paced languor, capturing moments of human communion with nature’s beauty.

Predicated on intelligent consideration, “Bright Star” is more than just a career rebirth for Jane Campion – it's a high mark in her career. The perfect complementation of the film’s technical achievements and Campion’s remarkable thematic understanding of Keats’ work makes for a film rich in tone and pure in heart without falling prey to cliché. And with a literary thoughtfulness that will appeal to Keats enthusiasts, an incredible love story at the film’s center that will appeal to romantics, the filmmaking aesthetics that will appeal to the art crowd, and the period details and “based-upon truth” story that will appeal to fans of historical drama, it's hard to imagine that “Bright Star” will fail in satiating a diverse demographic of viewers. For me, it is simply the best film of the year so far.

Last Word:

A career rebirth for Jane Campion, and a high mark of her career in its own right, “Bright Star” has a little something to satiate a wide variety of demographics.

Review By:
Luke Gorham, Film Editor

IN REVIEW ONLINE