Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw dazzle in Bright Star, Jane Campion’s sumptuous tale of a simple romance that inspired great art.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 19, 2024

Manages to bottle the fleeting feeling of spring bliss.

| May 20, 2022

Everything is simple and understated, allowing the big moments their space. ... [Whishaw's] line readings are disastrous. ... Cornish is a revelation[.]

| Nov 9, 2021

Jane Campion's "Bright Star" manages to accomplish quite a bit, not the least of which is a love story where the lovers not only rarely get any time alone together, but fall in love in front of the whole family.

| Oct 8, 2020

Bright Star is filled with such an enormity of love and feeling, it nearly takes your breath away. The film's rapturous images and Campion's vision make you long for a world as vivid and true as this one.

| Jan 24, 2020

The film succeeds in making the lustre of Keats' words come borne out of the inspiration he finds in his love for Fanny Brawn and the transcendent beauty of the natural world.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 31, 2019

The love story between John and Fanny fuels the narrative and draws in the viewer - we root for their happiness even though we know only heartbreak lies ahead.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 29, 2019

There are moments of great and sublime beauty at work here.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2019

Bright Star is a beautiful film, filled with the glories of nature and man that inspired Keats.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 5, 2018

The problem that the New Zealand director cannot overcome is that there is the lack of electricity between Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish in the lead roles.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 4, 2018

Yes, it is a thing of beauty and, yes, things of beauty are joys for ever but we can also probably say this about them: they don't always add up to the most affecting movies.

| Aug 30, 2018

The film is mistaken to the point of perversity about the nature of imagination when it comes to a poet and especially to this poet.

| Aug 29, 2018

In a world where only Hollywood cinematic romance is acceptable, it is a risk that pays off.

| May 18, 2018

Campion manages to understand and present the essence of a passionate relationship, without becoming corny or old fashioned. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 16, 2018

Bright Star is a work of muted eroticism, and in its bare-bones approach, it's a story reminding us that love often grows without explosive fanfare.

| Feb 3, 2018

Every frame exudes a sweet, doomed innocence that makes you want to cry, then swoon, then cry again.

| Jan 24, 2018

Wonderful attention is paid to detail, including clothing, furniture and highly-stylized behavior. What is missing is emotion.

| Jan 17, 2018

It all feels quite lovely and seems an achievement unto itself, to be allowed to soak in all this calm and tenderness.

| Dec 14, 2017

Director Jane Campion's most enthralling film since The Piano.

| Oct 11, 2017

If the theme of Bright Star is the realization of oneself in natural emotion, the method is gorgeously unnatural.

| Jun 13, 2016