Bright Star
User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 66 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 66
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 66
  3. Negative: 14 out of 66

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  1. WillB
    Oct 3, 2009
    3
    When the whole of Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" is read over the credits, any emotion the well-done cinematography and acting has managed to ring out of Campion's uninspired writing is revealed as quite forgettable and useless in comparison to the incandescent emotional output of the film's subject. The problem is that the film expects romance to stand on its own, when Keats' work is about a romance with art so strong that the rest of the world bends around it.… Collapse
  2. StuartL
    Sep 17, 2009
    2
    Like watching a freshly painted Gainesborough painting dry.
  3. pete
    Sep 20, 2009
    2
    Slow, plodding and lacking narrative. One of Jane Campion's least interesting film. However the two leads are mesmerizing.
  4. damonc
    Sep 23, 2009
    2
    This was a complete snoozefest. sure the acting was good, but this is a story that we've seen a hundred times before. what's so fresh or interesting about this? nothing.
  5. Marco
    Sep 24, 2009
    4
    Beautiful cinematography and fine acting cannot make up for a painfully slow pace and a narrative that seems only partially realized. Chunks of the story are left unstated, and Campion fails to provide sufficient cues to permit the viewer to fill in the gaps. The result is that watching this movie requires the same sort of patience and commitment and interpretive skill that it takes to understand and appreciate complex (some might say impenetrable) poetry. found this a hard one to sit through.… Expand
  6. BayC.
    Sep 27, 2009
    3
    Beautiful individual scenes -- lots of them -- but otherwise not enjoyable. Difficult to hear dialogue (even poetry). Wait for home DVD so you have subtitles.
  7. RonL.
    Sep 30, 2009
    1
    For the second time in 30 years, I walked out on a movie. When the most entertaining thing is the scenery and the most exciting moment is a rainstorm, you've got yourself one really boring film. (Well, Keats does cough up blood at one point.) No one does anything and nothing happens. Jane Campion has come up with her answer to waterboarding.
  8. davidk.
    Oct 1, 2009
    1
    What some call restraint I call boring. Absolutely no dramatic tension at all. I LOVE John Keats's poetry, but could not have cared less about Campion's characters. And please: the real story here is Keats and his art, NOT Fanny the Faun.
  9. MSB
    Nov 1, 2009
    1
    Sorry John V, but anyone who gives this movie more than a 1 knows nothing about Keats' life, his relationship with Fanny, his poetry, film-making in general, and the incredibly inept and pathetic Jane Campion. I should have known better than to see this film, considering I thought "The Piano" over-wrought and pompous. Sad that Campion knows nothing about Keats and yet chose to make a film about him. Those of us who have studied Keats' life and his poetry, and who are familiar with his letters to Fanny (she saved all of them, so why didn't Campion read them), who have written critically/analytically about the poetry, and who have taught Keats' work, either are or should be appalled at this incredibly inaccurate and simple-minded film. A pox on Jane Campion. She needs to go back to school---film-making school as well as a decent undergraduate liberal arts college.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 34 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    75
    Mainly, though, it's the exquisite restraint - both of Cornish's performance and Campion's direction - that gives the film its power.
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  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Bennett
    90
    Bright Star may not be a joy forever but it will do until the next joy comes along.
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  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    90
    Breaking through any period-piece mustiness with piercing insight into the emotions and behavior of her characters, the writer-director examines the final years in the short life of 19th-century romantic poet John Keats through the eyes of his beloved, Fanny Brawne, played by Abbie Cornish in an outstanding performance.
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