This post features my thoughts on the film, so it includes spoilers. Don't keep reading if you don't want to know what happens.
************Spoilers Follow************
Keats died at the age of 25, and the movie focuses on his ill-fated romance with (literally) the girl next door, Fanny Brawne.
The film makes use of letters actually written by Keats and Brawne, as well as a generous helping of his poetry, to tell their story. Apparently, the film was based heavily on poet Andrew Motion's biography of Keats (I ordered it on Amazon.com).
Here is the imdb page and here is the Wikipedia entry on the film. If you like reviews, here is Roger Ebert's and here is Rotten Tomatoes. Ebert, by the way gets some things wrong in his review. He says, for example, that Brown accompanies Keats to Italy, which he most certainly does not - in fact his not going is a pretty big plot point in the last third of the film. Will Joseph Severn get no credit? He also wonders is Brown is gay for Keats, which I didn't notice, but it's something to think about I guess. By the way, did you realize the guy playing Brown is the guy from that Parks and Recreation show?
I have to say that I found the fact that the film focused on the last two (or so) year of Keats' life refreshing. Usually these biopics spend the first forty minutes on the hero as a baby, a toddler (when he witnesses his parents fighting or his father leaving his mother or his mother dying - in Keats' case, it would have been the latter) then as a young man when his brother dies tragically (OK, that part was in) before they get to the part most of us care about.
For the first half of this film I kept thinking, "This is perfect! I'm going to buy this on DVD. I'm going to recommend that all of my friends who like costume drama, romance, Jane Austen, etc. rush to the theatre to see this." The first three fourths of the film were very enjoyable.
Now, for most people (apparently, not the woman sitting behind me) this film is a bit like Titanic, in that you know going in that Keats (played by the fantastic Ben Whishaw) is going to die. Keats' death in Italy is not shown, and rightly so. We are spared a tragic deathbed farewell, but as soon as Whishaw is gone, so is the fun in the film. When Abbie Cornish as Brawne fell to the floor crying and started pointing to her chest, it was a bit much. Instead of feeling her pain, I felt somewhat annoyed.
Similarly, how do you end such a film? Here, Campion gives us Fanny (who loves fashion and sews all her own clothes) sewing the lining into her black mourning clothes and walking through the woods in winter reciting the title sonnet, which Keats wrote for her. She cries while reciting it, which is also annoying.
The end is redeemed, however, with the return of Whishaw who reads the poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" over the closing credits. The audience in the theatre I went to was glued to the seats for all of the credits. Perfect!
Questions
Here are the questions with my answers, feel free to give your own in the comments!
What was your favorite scene?
I loved any scene that showed Keats and Brown sitting in their dark brown study "doing nothing." I also loved the beautiful visuals when Fanny sat reading Keats' letter in the field of blue flowers. I also loved the clothes!
Who was your favorite character?
I loved Fanny's brother and sister! They were so cute. The cat was also awesome.
What were you most surprised at?
I loved the butterfly farm!
What was your least favorite part?
The crying, chest pointing. We get it.
Will you see it again? But the DVD? Recommend it to friends?
I'll get the DVD. My friends can borrow it. :)
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