Review of Bright Star (2009) by Alexis M — 07 Feb 2010

Now, I enjoy Romantic poetry as much as the next guy (some of Keats' poems are among my favorites), and I don't want to be unkind in my assessment of this film, but I must say that "Bright Star" is by far the dullest and most inert movie that I've seen in quite some time.

If plot depends on conflict, there is almost no plot here; this is a plodding meditation on sorrow and misfortune. For a film that purports to dramatize the greatest love of one of the Romantic poets, never have I seen a romance depicted so dispassionately (maybe it's got something to do with the almost complete absence of a scoreâ??how do we know when to well up with emotion and weep if there's no crescendo of music to cue our emotional responses?).

Jane Campion seems to think that having Keats and Fanny Brawne recite Keats' poems to each other can supply poignant dialogue, but it results in a leaden, artificialâ??and ultimately embarrassingâ??excuse for a screenplay.