Thoughts on Bright Star

   I had heard of Bright Star way back in 2009, Jane Campion's romantic period drama about the brief love affair between John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). It was so quiet and full of longing, set in 1818 Hampstead, England, where John Keats is a shy, quiet poet who is a penniless instructor, and Fanny Brawne is a outspoken flirt interested in fashion who comes from a middle class family, and they share a double house, living on different sides of it, and eventually fall in love, but can't be together because of his meager circumstances. As her mother says, of his reluctance to initially pursue her, "Mr. Keats knows he cannot like you, he has no living and no income." She pines for him when he goes to London to try to get work, waiting for his letters and is melodramatic in the period between receiving responses from him, acting like she will die of despair. When he returns, her mother is worried that she is growing too attached to him, wanting her to be available for more eligible suitors.

    I really liked a scene where they communicate with each other by rapping on the walls opposite their rooms, trying to listen to each other, it was really sexy in a hidden desires kind of way.

    I liked how it was a quiet courtship, how they kiss so softly with a lot of restrained emotion, and how delicate yet powerful Ben Whishaw's performance as Keats was. I liked Abbie Cornish's performance, how it was a little more broad because Fanny can afford to be more dramatic than John can, but still had a lovely soul to her characterization. I liked how they bonded over poetry, and how the film honored Keats' poetry and legacy while describing the beauty and intimacy of his relationship with Fanny.