Movies

It's 1818 in Hampstead Village on outer London. Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is introduced to John Keats (Ben Whishaw). At first, he dismisses her as a fashionista. She pursues him by reading his poems. She shows compassion to his sick brother Tom who passes away. His lack of an income keeps him from truly pursuing a romance. His friend and writing mate Charles Brown (Paul Schneider) aims to show Fanny as a cruel flirt by sending her a Valentine.In the sure hands of Jane Campion, this has both a poetic and true feel of romance. She shows restraint which only heightens the passion. The Brown valentine is a shocking turn and the height of romantic drama. In particular, Abbie Cornish delivers a compelling of a relentless love from the heart and passion from the time era.

This film could have been good. But the indulgent directing, slow pace and limited story caused it to fail.The subject matter is naturally interesting. The leads Ben and Abbie are earnest and good actors, even if Ben has a chimp like appearance and Abbie is common. But the movie is too slow. It shows a rather limited part of Keats' life that could have been covered in an hour. Jane Campion made a mistake in spending the entire movie on so little subject matter. There are many minutes where hardly anything happens.The love between the leads is interesting but more could have been shown of Keats' early life and his poetry. After all the love affair isn't everything about him.

I would have given this a 4/10 score except, the more I think about it the less there is to say in commendation of it. The principle problem is that Campion has chosen to write the script herself with only the aid of Andrew Motion. No wonder this is so off target. If you are at all interested in history, or God forbid, Keats himself, stay well away. It is a truly appalling representation of a real person's life and work. It gives no sense of the deprivations suffered by Keats. You'd think he was a spoilt brat pretending to live the life of an occasional letter writer, in a well lit, airy rural setting, with Brawne depicted like the 21st Century prick-tease that chimes more with modern day sentimentality. Costumes interesting. Casting poor. Script Godawful. Cinematography odd. Deserving of oblivion.