Sunday, May 24, 2009

Keats & "Bright Star"

Jane Campion has put poetry and the life of young John Keats at the heart of her film Bright Star, which takes place in 1818.  Keats was in love with Fanny Brawne, knowing that it was a hopeless romance, that for reasons of class she could never become his wife.


Links about the film:
A short excerpt from "Bright Star" from the Cannes Film Festival (AFP, 2009).
Bright Star Production Scrapbook (2009).
Four clips from the film — from www.commeaucinema.com (2009)
"Cannes film festival: Bright Star rising, Ben Whishaw," Guardian (May 19, 2009).
"'Bright Star': le trouble exquis d'une passion chaste au XIXe siècle," Le Monde (May 16, 2009).
Michaël Melinard, "Campion revient à ses premières amours," L'Humanité (May 16, 2009).
Joan Dupont, "Jane Campion Presents Another Resilient Heroine," New York Times (May 15, 2009).

Links about the poet and his poetry:
Charles McGrath, "Truth and Beauty? Only in Afterlife," New York Times (August 7, 2008).
Stanley Plumly, (first chapter) "Posthumous Keats," New York Times (August 8, 2008).
John Keats (.com)
John Keats, Poems 1817 (e-book, Project Gutenberg).