A visually stunning and superbly well-acted love story.

Written and directed by Jane Campion Bright Star is a superior drama based on the true life love affair between the poet John Keats and Fanny Browne.

Campion used love letters that Keats sent to Browne as the basis of the movie and brings it to the screen full of intense emotions and sensitivity. As a result Campion’s screenplay and direction both allow for first rate and convincing portrayals from Abbie Cornish (Fanny Browne) and Ben Whishaw (John Keats).

The film visually is a delight to take in with some sublime compositions of in and around Hampstead Heath in London.

Although the film involves the famous poet Keats, Campion chooses Browne’s character as the central viewpoint to great success. In the movie Browne is a seamstress who believes in practicalities and seems to be suspicious of the intangible art of poetry. As her fondness for Keats grows she has a desire to increase her limited understanding and appreciation of poetry. Cornish brings a great deal of complexity to her role as a mixture of strong, independent and wilful while Whitshaw also shows a subtle depth as the struggling impoverished poet who has to rely on the patronage of his friend Charles Armitage Browne (Paul Schneider). The values and attitudes of Victorian society are also nicely alluded to adding to the historical perpespetive.

If there is one aspect that does not quite work it is the antagonist relationship between Fanny and Charles Brown. This at times seems a little excessive and heavy handed in trying to provide a little tension but this does not detract much from what is a very good piece of work.

Championed as one of the great Romantic English poets, Keats was not well known in his lifetime and would have considered himself as somewhat of a failure by the time he died at the age of 25.