'Bright Star' review: Shining a steadfast light on Keats, romance and love

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” The poet John Keats wrote those romantic words in his 1820 work “Ode to a Grecian Urn.” But twisted through a jaded modern lens, you can imagine them as the latest hip ad campaign, screaming tabloid headline or tagline for Hollywood itself, with its fixation on physical looks, special effects and computer-generated visuals. You can almost see the studio heads laughing as the masses fill cineplexes for the usual crappola: “That is all ye know on earth, and all you need to know.”

Keats might have coughed up some blood at this crass twisting of his sentiment. It’s fitting, then, that Bright Star, a new film about Keats and his love, Fanny Brawn, puts the focus back where it belongs: on the beating hearts that fuel the passion for love and life in us all.
It’s London, 1818, and the teenage Fanny Brawn (Abbie Cornish) enjoys fashion, ballroom dancing and flirting. She also has a creative spirit and inquisitive nature that expresses itself in her passion for designing and sewing her own clothes, than manifests itself in her interest in the boy next door, one John Keats (Ben Wishaw).

Fanny doesn’t care for Keats’ friend, bankroller and fellow author Charles Brown (Paul Schneider, providing enjoyable comic relief), but the quieter, more mysterious Keats intrigues her, though she’s initially unimpressed by poetry. Likewise, he’s attracted to her vitality and kindness to his ailing brother but fancies her a bit superficial.

But as they spend more time together, walking the country and sharing quiet moments, their attraction grows--much to the chagrin of Charles, who sees Fanny as little more than a distracting flirt, and Fanny’s mother, who’s aware that the struggling Keats doesn’t have the money to marry her. But the biggest threat to their romance is Keats’ declining health.

Writer/director Jane Campion, Bright Star’s skilled leads and the words of Keats himself create a world in which passion builds without the requisite physical consummation. Campion (The Piano) sets the mood with lush colors, a gorgeous score and inspired framing. The images linger: a shot of Brawn and Keats winding down for the night, touching the thin wall between them; the two curled on the bed, reciting poetry; Fanny lying in a field of gorgeous flowers, gazing at Keats.

It sounds like it could easily devolve into the kind of pretentious prattle and gag-me swooning that has you running for the exits. But Whishaw and Cornish give excellent performances that transcend star-trapped lover clichés. Whishaw plays Keats with the perfect mix of innocence, brooding and artsiness. And Cornish invests Abbey with fierce emotion and blossoming intellect that make her a worthy object of his affection.

Running through it all are Keats’ words, which Cornish and Whishaw deliver with conviction that reconfirms their lingering power two centuries later. And Campion’s screenplay is its own triumph of writing, artfully weaving Keats’ poetry and love letters into a narrative that puts a fresh spin on how barriers of class and culture clash with young love. While some of the circumstances that lead to the duo’s final separation seem contrived, it’s easy to overlook this minor flaw when Campion crafts a lyrical, emotionally powerful ending that hits you hard.

In an era in which shortening attention spans and instant gratification are often the rule, can a straight-ahead period romance devoid of irony and sexual trysts resonate? It’s a tribute to Campion and her talented cast that Keats’ and Brawn’s relationship feels timeless. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” Keats wrote, and Bright Star, one of the best romances in recent memory, makes you believe it.

Grade: A

Bright Star trailer:

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