Bright Star

Campion’s latest feature film is a quietly tender love story as well as a devastating portrait of an artist beset by tragedy. During the last few years of the fledgling poet’s tragic life, John Keats (Ben Whishaw) is introduced to Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) in London, 1818. Although the two embark on a passionate courtship—to the dismay of others in their circle, including Keats’s friend and writing associate Charles Brown (Paul Schneider)—their vibrant love affair is nonetheless shaded by imminent heartbreak. With Greig Fraser’s delicate cinematography, longtime Campion collaborator Janet Brown’s sophisticated production design (The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady), and the vivacious chemistry between the film’s accomplished young leads, Bright Star is Campion’s most romantic film to date.