On this day in movie history - Bright Star (2009 movie & book):

Bright Star

directed and written by Jane Campion,

based on the book Keats by Andrew Motion,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 15, 2009.

Music by Mark Bradshaw.

Cast:

Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox, Edie Martin, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Claudie Blakley, Gerard Monaco, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Samuel Roukin, Amanda Hale, Lucinda Raikes, Samuel Barnett, Jonathan Aris, Olly Alexander, François Testory, Theresa Watson, Vincent Franklin, Eileen Davies, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Sally Reeve, Sebastian Armesto, Adrian Schiller, Alfred Harmsworth, Lucas Motion, Topper (the Cat), Amy Brown, Anthoula Drummond, Joyia Fitch, Will Garthwaite, Samuel Gaukroger, Guy Mannerings, Kerry Grace Morgan.

Recommended reading:

Keats

By Andrew Motion.

Filmed as Bright Star (2009), directed by Jane Campion.

Published by Faber & Faber.

First published 1997.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0571346669

ISBN-13: 978-0571346660

Description:

“A definitive life of a great poet, and one of the finest biographies of the decade.” – New Statesman.

First published in 1997, Keats was the first major biography of this tragic hero of Romanticism for some thirty years, and it differs from its predecessors in important respects. The outline of the story is well known - has become, in fact, the stuff of legend: the archetypal life of the tortured genius, critically spurned and dying young. What Andrew Motion brings to bear on the subject is a deep understanding of how Keats fitted into the intellectual and political life of his time. Important friendships with such anti-establishment figures as William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt are given their full due, and the closeness of his own spirit, as expressed in his poems, to the ferment all around is made clear. Many significant facts about Keats's schooldays and medical training, in particular, enrich the picture. Keats emerges as a more political figure than he is usually portrayed, but his personal sufferings, too, come into closer focus. Most importantly, Andrew Motion – himself a distinguished poet and former poet laureate – demonstrates how the poems continue to exert their power.