Bright Star Movie Analysis

In the movie, “Bright Star” directed and written by Jane Campion, the writer includes the poem, “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” by John Keats, to further emphasize the romanticism of the poem. The movie portrays the poem author, John Keats falling in love with the neighboring girl, Fanny Brawne. Nonetheless, Keats is a poet with no real success and has no money, so their future together is limited and disdained. With the hopes of becoming officially engages and getting married, Keats sets out to finish his latest poetry novel. However, during his trip Keats becomes incredibly ill, tuberculosis, he is recommended to go Italy in hopes of getting better, but tragically dies. The use of the poem in the film conveys, love has a

Throughout the film, the idea the love is dependent on trust, especially times of solitude use to highlight the poem notion of mindlessly devoted love. The poem is stated completely in the movie, during the last scene and is the last thing spoken. Time after finding out Keats has died, Brawne goes for a walk in the garden reciting the poem. Campion concludes the film in this matter to further that love has no end, even in the matter of death. This thematic approach allows the audience to capture Keats purpose of the poem demonstrating that extreme emotions that love can have of one. By the film, having Brawne walk in the garden alone indicates that “like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite” (Keats Line 4). The word “Erimite” can be taken to mean a hermit, suggesting that love can be a lonely task without sleep, but one worth doing. Further the idea that love in this sense can be a directionless road since there is no end goal of where she is going. Moreover, in the poem, Keats implies that love can be standstill. In the first line of the poem, Keats personifies a star and begins to speak to the

Keats express that he had watched the star with “eternal lids apart” (Keats Line 3), and in the film, Brawne is being driven to a suicidal point after receiving a short letter from Keats expressing that “it’s all over” and give her a “knife” (Campion). The idea of “eternal lids” indicate that if he was to close his eyes that could end everything. Similarly, Brawne wanting to end her life because of the lack length of the letter gives the same theatrical approach. That even the mundane things, was watching stars or getting love letter the moment that stops can arrive a sense of lost in one’s self, further the theme of loneness. Also, in Keats poem, he wants to rather stay “awake for ever in a sweet unrest” (Keats Line 12). The word “unrest” just supposed to have a negative connotation has been reversed to be something to wish for, especially be including the adjective of “sweet” before. Correspondingly, in the film, the night before leaving for his trip to Italy, Keats and Brawne are lying in bed expressing that “touch has a memory” (Campion). Those two moments, although seemly different, related to each other because it conveys the idea that even when looking or touching those memories of each other will never be forgotten. Further expressing that love has no limits. As well as,