bright star

Moira and I went to see Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” at the Watershed on Sunday afternoon. The film tells the story of John Keats’s unconsummated love affair with Fanny Brawne in the final days of his life. I thought it was a rather beautiful, tender film – with fine performances from Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish (and from Paul Schneider as Keats’s friend Brown) – although Moira did admit to being a “bit bored”! The blurb from the Watershed provides an interview with Ben Whishaw and, in it, he explains that there was a scene that Campion cut quite late in the day, where Keats gets very angry and jealous of Fanny. I’m pleased the scene WAS omitted because it would certainly have interfered with the overall sense of understated gentleness (despite the sadness of story) that I found so appealing.