Just A Keats' Movie Review

“Bright star, would I were stedfast as though art—

Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night…”

                                             - John Keats

It’s with great restraint that I’m trying not to add Keats in my every post. His was the first poem that got me interested in literature and it’s his sacrifices that inspire me to write even when I’m ready to throw in the towel. So you can imagine how excited I was about Bright Star, a movie about Keats’ life.

                Bright Star didn’t compromise with the facts and for that it’s worth the watch. Still, there were a few things that I had a problem with. First off, Keats, played by the brilliant Ben Whishaw who most people would know as Q from Sky Fall, is portrayed as a bit too delicate. Understandably, a man who writes poetry is sensitive, but that doesn’t translate into being physically frail. My teacher remarked wryly that when he rests his head on his lover’s bosom, it feels more like a scene of a mother and child. If I’m not mistaken, Keats was known to beat up his brothers and got into some savage fist fights at school.

                Another bone of contention was how much they focused on Keats’ fiancé, Fanny Brawne. Sure, she is the inspiration for the titular poem, but at times I felt like I walked into the wrong theater. It was Keats that drew me to this movie, damn it, I wanted to see his heartbreaks not hers.

The wonder that is Keats

                Finally, the movie has some beautiful scenery and this makes sense considering that Keats’ poems are all about seeing the beauty in things. But the problem was they didn’t film it as if it was Keats’ was experiencing this. Another Ben Whishaw film, Perfume, is all about the different scents a man experiences and they made you live the movie through his sense of smell. It’s something that Bright Star failed to do. They may show Keats with a gorgeous background of pink blossoms, but it didn’t feel like he was really engaging with the flowers.

                But on the whole, would I recommend it to Keats’ lovers and viewers in general? I think I might. The flaws I listed are quite subjective, and I’m sure that most people would enjoy it for a one-time thing. It’s funny, touching, and gives a nice enough glimpse of the man behind some of the best works of the Romantic Era. As a side note, I’d definitely recommend Perfume for anyone who prefers more outlandish films.

Painting depicting a scene from Eve Of St. Agnes

So to wrap up, I’m just going to list some of my favorite Keats-related works. You’ll probably find them for free on Google:

1. A Drought of Sunshine

2. A Thing of Beauty (Perhaps his most quoted work)

3. The Eve of St. Agnes (Opening lines are supposed to be the coldest lines in literature.)

4. Sonnet to Sleep (I’m considering getting the last line of this one tattooed on me.)

5. Letters to Fanny Brawne & Charles Brown (not poems, but a nice a read)

6. Adonis (This one’s by fellow romantic writer, Shelley, but it’s about Keats and his tragic end.)