Alicia I love this movie so much

LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

sirenebern I was very impressed with "Bright Star," directed by Jane Campion. I've watched this movie at least three times. The acting is excellent, and the actors (Cornish, Whishaw, and all the supporting cast) realistically both the romantic passion of English ladies and gentlemen of this period and their restraint and adherence to social convention. When Fanny Brawne and John Keats express their love and devotion, they do so delicately and beautifully, with poetry (exquisite lines written by the great poet and delivered so hauntingly by Whishaw), surreptitious kisses, notes and subtle gestures. Not the garish grabbing and vulgar patter we see today. Campion's recreation of the English countryside and its slow-paced lifestyle is perfect. Cornish's Fanny is overwrought with emotion over her love for Keats, and even though it seems excessive to jaded moderns, I believe that was common for the time. Her feelings spill over. She doesn't know where to put them. She's also a feisty, determined, creative (she designs her own clothes and accessories) young woman with a zest for life and love. Keats is more introspective and quiet, but you feel how his love for her builds and deepens. "Bright Star" brings the Romantic period to life quite believably, and will encourage you to read Keats' poetry and more about the lives of these individuals.

webber-george I just recently watched this film for the first time and was impressed but the film, it was pretty good. The acting was faultless and I must say there was a stand out performance by Abby Cornish. The cinematography was equally of a high standard, there are several scenes where the lighting and atmosphere really help you feel part of the story. I also should give kudos to the costume department, their choices were perfect. Looking at the film itself I should say its a very well told romantic tale the story between Fanny and Keats could so easily have become a more sentimental one. But through a natural dialogue between characters a little bit of humour and good control over the story line Campion has managed to make a really good film. You can feel the emotions coming across and take the emotional journey with the characters throughout. Its just a really nice film.

jandesimpson When watching Jane Campion's affectionate account of the final months of John Keats's brief life I could not but ponder on the precariousness of human existence even at such relatively short time ago as the early years of the nineteenth century. Ahead were those advances in medical science that certainly have enabled this octogenarian to watch several hundred wonderful films rather than a small handful. It is the ephemeral nature of experience that tugs at the heartstrings, a romance with everything going for it, cut short because a cure now available simply was not there. "Bright Star" lovingly conveys the "carpe diem" of the all too brief relationship of the young poet with his very near neighbour, Fanny Brawne. Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish instinctively express the emotions of an affair they know to be all too short in a way that reminds that great romantic cinema is far from dead. As if this were not enough, Campion's work is terrific on period detail. A shot very near the beginning depicting a Hampstead village landscape with white sheets of washing flapping in the foreground is breathtakingly beautiful. And this just one of many. There are moments of exquisite tenderness such as the scene where Keats comments on the rosebud complexion of Toots, Fanny's much younger sister. We are never far from the poetry itself which is oft-quoted even to the extent of providing a background to the final credits thus rendering the usual rushed exit from the half lit "dream palace" all but impossible. There is a moment shortly towards the end when Fanny, hearing of Keats's death collapses in a paroxysm of grief. As moving as similar moments in the work of such masters as Satyajit Ray and Hou Hsiao-Hsien, this places Jane Campion's film on the highest level.

banzanbon I'm a fan of Jane Campion's and even when Oscar & Lucinda were panned, I still liked the movie. Bright Star however really is her weakest work to date. I was looking forward to it but the casting is all wrong to me and the storyline is wobbly and whatever substantial bits there are, are all carried by Abby Cornish who is the best thing in the whole film. Ben Whishaw is a decent enough actor but he's a stick figure in this role and his interpretation of Keats' 'anemia' is simply forgettable. Paul Schneider emotes and overacts his little heart out, though he pulls off a darn fine Scottish accent. The rest of the cast try but the way the script reads, they are all a sort of wispy and devitalized 'characters' vs. personages. It's as if Campion told everyone to be as spent as Keats! The cumbersome rhythm of the film is also just annoying and compounded by the deafening lack of a complementary theme music. All in all, All the actors and the director have seen better days. See it if you will but...I give this film a disappointed yawn.