Let me start by saying I cried and swooned all through this film and acted like a great big softy, thinking back, a bit of an embarrassment really (thank goodness I was alone, spoke to the screen a few times).
The film is based on a not so well-known 3 year love affair between John Keats (Ben Whishaw) (19th century poet) and Frances Brawne (Abbie Cornish). The love affair ended with Keats’ unfortunate and unforseen death at the age of 25. At first Frances did not like Keats’ poetry, when she found out that he was nursing his ill brother she seemed to view him in a different light and asked him to teach her about poetry. The poetry quickly become the thing that brought them together and started a sensual and intensely romantic love affair.
If you like period drama or Keats’ poetry then you will love this film. The writing was of course great, the acting was magnetic. Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish played Keats and Brawne with consuming passion that it pulled you into the love affair. Modern movies have sex scenes but this film had a deeply sensual love scene, but with words. Keats and Brawne were laying full dressed next to each other reading poetry, it was intense, it makes you almost stop breathing. This is how a powerful and consuming love affair should be. I’m a fan of Keats’ poetry and when you read it you can feel the force of it but to hear it from someone and see it played out in front of you it becomes even that more of a force. By the way at the laying down scene they were reading ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ to each other. I may be a romantic, well I am, this is what real love is about, but to be cut short like that. (Spoiler alert) when Frances hears of Keats’ death and starts to cry and finds it hard to breath, I am not ashamed to say, I was a baby at this point , bawled my eyes out.
I most absolutely and definitely recommend this to watch, but if you are like me have a box of tissues ready as you may well be crying.
