Bright Star

Name: Bright Star
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Released: September 16, 2009
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 81
Cast: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider

2009

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 94 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 94 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Apparition | Release Date: September 16, 2009 | PG

Starring: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider

Summary: London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, and outspoken student of fashion. This unlikely pair started at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, she unimpressed by literature in general. It was the illness of Keats' younger brother that drew them together.London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, and outspoken student of fashion. This unlikely pair started at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, she unimpressed by literature in general. It was the illness of Keats' younger brother that drew them together. Keats was touched by Fanny's efforts to help and agreed to teach her poetry. By the time Fanny's alarmed mother and Keats' best friend Brown realized their attachment, the relationship had an unstoppable momentum. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers were swept into powerful new sensation, "I have the feeling as if I were dissolving," Keats wrote her. Together they rode a wave of romantic obsession that deepened as their troubles mounted. Only Keats' illness proved insurmountable. (Apparition)… Expand

Director: Jane Campion

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Romance

Rating: PG

Runtime: 119 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Kenneth Turan

Masterfully put-together, made with confidence, intelligence and command. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Campion's big-sisterly encouragement of Cornish's lovely, openhearted performance -- and Whishaw's well-matched response -- results in a character instantly, intimately recognizable to anyone remembering her own first love. Read full review

A.O. Scott

Ms. Campion, with her restless camera movements and off-center close-ups, films history in the present tense, and her wild vitality makes this movie romantic in every possible sense of the word. Read full review

Peter Rainer

For a movie so sensuously mounted, it's remarkably grounded. Read full review

Rick Groen

Mainly, though, it's the exquisite restraint - both of Cornish's performance and Campion's direction - that gives the film its power. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Bright Star is a nice ode to the poet, the love of his life, and the period in which he lived. Read full review

Keith Uhlich

Writer-director Jane Campion approaches the tale with an artiste’s respectful solemnity, but it too often comes off like "Twilight" transplanted across oceans and centuries. Read full review

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User Reviews

ez88uc

Nov 8, 2014

An intimate and flawless film worthy of the highest praise... one of Jane Champion's best works. This movie is quite, subtle and masterfully directed, written, and acted. Ben Whishaw is a marvel.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GaryM

Oct 6, 2009

Beautifully realized film, so tender and delicate. Both performances are deep and moving. Its subtlety may go over some heads but I found it to be an exceptional film.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ORCSandDRAGONS

Aug 18, 2013

I watched this years ago just cause, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. This was a profoundly touching movie. I'm not sure why I see reviews bashing it for being "too slow". Come on it's a drama and it's about real life. What do you think is going to happen? Some action packed scene withI watched this years ago just cause, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. This was a profoundly touching movie. I'm not sure why I see reviews bashing it for being "too slow". Come on it's a drama and it's about real life. What do you think is going to happen? Some action packed scene with explosions? No it's not that kind of movie. If you wanted that you should have watched you know... an ACTION movie not a british drama. Dramas can be very slow but this one did not bother me because of the emotions it captured through amazing shots and acting. I was in tears many times in different points in this movie. NOT feelings of sadness or emotion ACTUAL crying that I could not stop. It's very rare a movie can do that to me. Overall a hugely ignored movie by the public and if you have not seen it you should.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

roberti

Oct 18, 2009

Real love, between the star-crossed, shines from Bright Star. We feel the simple, insatiable thirst that love brings, in a thoroughly modern period retelling. And unlike the slew of self-aware biopics of the last decade, here the hitherto unseen Keats speaks, and the love that animated him Real love, between the star-crossed, shines from Bright Star. We feel the simple, insatiable thirst that love brings, in a thoroughly modern period retelling. And unlike the slew of self-aware biopics of the last decade, here the hitherto unseen Keats speaks, and the love that animated him comes to life again. She warms us even now. A pen!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

KenG

Oct 22, 2009

I don't know if the true life version of this love story was as chaste as this movie makes it seem, but otherwise this film does solid work all around.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

WillB

Oct 3, 2009

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 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.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

RonL.

Sep 30, 2009

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. 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.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

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