BRIGHT STAR

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"Bright Star" is an unassuming telling of the simmering romance that developed between the poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and a comely clothing designer named Fanny Brawne (well played by the talented Abbie Cornish).

Directed by Jane Campion, a New Zealand filmmaker best known for her Oscar-winning 1993 film "The Piano," the 19th century story breathes with a fresh vitality that is modest as it is inspiring in its ability to convey a poetic spirit blossoming against strict social mores.

Through Fanny's eyes, Campion lays the groundwork for the romantic connection that fueled the most prolific period of Keats's brief career--he died when he was only 25 from tuberculosis.

Much of the action takes place in and around Fanny's North London home that she shares with her widowed mother (Kerry Fox) and younger siblings Samuel (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Toots (Edie Martin).

Keats and his jealous writing partner Brown (Paul Schneider) live in an adjacent house and as such are frequent visitors. Although Keats views Fanny as a "minx," and she is unimpressed by his poetry, the two are drawn together over the care of Keats's ailing younger brother.

Campion created her evocative script from reading between the lines of Andrew Motion's biography "Keats," and took the film's title from a poem that Keats wrote for Fanny.

The resulting film is a rare pleasure of unrequited love that never dips the poet's ink into the syrup of sentimentality, but rather allows its characters to invest passion from their gently articulated imaginations.  

Rated PG. 119 mins.