Review of Bright Star (2009) by Freda W — 30 Aug 2010

What is this film about? A biopic? It is a selfish made, then. A documentary? Why, many questionable facts such Keats affair with Isabella Jones never surfaced; that's not it. An interpretation, or maybe, adaptation? Self-researched accountable story? Jane Campion, as in the director who made The Piano, is a remarkable director whose works has been lauded as masterpieces (I only admire The Piano, though.). Through this film, I can see that she ambitiously wanted to tell a story about a Romantic poet; his life, his lovelife and his miserable ending. The film is told from the perspective of Fanny Brawne, a selfish girl (too many selfish people here, are there?) whose heart is met by fate to John Keats, a poor poet who struggles to earn money with his poems. Selfish, as the filmmakers put it that way, because she only looks at the surface of love, not beyond that; because she only wants to love Keats and him loving her, and not preserving the struggle to develop their mutual love; because she only cares for Keats, and not her caring family or even Charles Brown's jealousy.

It is not wrong, but it isn't right either. Not wrong because the characters are well researched and the love story isn't too vague. Not right, for some reason, because the story isn't developing. We all know who John Keats as a poet, but we don't know truly of him as a man, a person. His struggling in London in his era, his relationship with Brown, his relationship with Isabella Jones, even we only his death through a letter. Maybe that's why the filmmakers only put the perspective on Brawne, so they can stretch the story long enough based on her account.

I don't find the film as a failure; more like it is a fine poet to me. It tells a story of Keats and Brawne and their circumstances, and that's all. The scenery, the mise en scene, the costumes; they are all profound. But the film lacks of references, and that's what I want to know at all.