An account of a brief love affair in the brief life of Romantic poet John Keats, Bright Star tells its story deliberately. Director Jane Campion highlights the dialogue by featuring a minimalist soundtrack; there is sparse music between bouts of extensive silence. Costumes and locations suit the film perfectly. The love affair is subtle but the passion between John Keats and Fanny Brawne is evident. The film sets out to deliver a moving love story and succeeds.
The question remains as to whether this type of patient film can remain relevant amid countless Hollywood blockbusters which boast higher budgets, bigger stars, and more firepower. Attention spans seem to be shrinking daily and I don’t know how many people are as willing to sit through a purposeful film like this as much as in the past. There are other love stories out there that capture the passion between two lovers in a more dynamic fashion. Cinema goers have higher expectations for films these days.
Like how Keats life burned out too soon, the film lost the viewer’s interest before it concluded. The distant denouement of the affair is not satisfying. I saw some parallels between Keats’ illness and the untimely end of the French playwright Molière. I thought that the film could have better featured the effect of Keats’ love, life, and death on his work. **½