SPHE Press Release: Bright Star (DVD)

 "Bright Star is one of the most deeply-moving romantic films in memory."

- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Bright Star

From Oscar®-Winning Writer-Director Jane Campion

And Starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish 

Culver City, Calif. (November 16, 2009) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s romantic rhapsody is revealed as Bright Stardebuts on high definition Blu-ray™ and DVD on January 19, 2009 for the SRP of $27.96.  Set at the heart of the British Romanic movement, when popular ideology celebrated emotion over reason, this ravishing love story centers on the wistful poet John Keats and his love affair with the clever, Fanny Brawne.   The memoir is brought to the silver screen by Oscar®-winning auteur Jane Campion (Best Original Screenplay, The Piano, 1993) and the characters are flawlessly captured by the talents of Ben Whishaw (Perfume: The Story of A Murder, Brideshead Revisited) as Keats and the lovely Abbie Cornish (A Good Year, Stop-Loss) as his “Bright Star.” 

Focusing on the three-year period when Keats was a boarder at the Brawne home in Hempstead, England, this sweeping story is as full of grace and beauty as it is of pain and sorrow.  Artfully capturing the story of young love at its purest, Keats and Brawne weave an enchanting tale that never goes out of fashion.  

Bright Star Synopsis

London, 1818: a secret love affair began between 23-year-old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, who was an outspoken student of fashion.   This unlikely pair was initially at odds- he thought she was a stylish minx, while she was unimpressed by literature in general.   Yet it was the illness of Keats’ younger brother that brought them together.  Keats was touched by Fanny’s efforts to help and agreed to teach her poetry.  By the time Fanny’s alarmed mother and Keats’ best friend Brown realized their attachment, the relationship had an unstoppable momentum.  Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers were swept into powerful new sensations. “I have the feeling as if I were dissolving,” Keats wrote to her.  Together they rode a wave of romantic obsession that deepened as their troubles mounted.  Only Keats’ illness proved insurmountable.

Bright Star is written and directed by Jane Campion (The Piano); executive produced by François Ivernel (Slumdog Millionaire co-executive producer), Christine Langan (The Queen), Cameron McCracken (Slumdog Millionaire co-executive producer) and David M. Thompson (Men Who Star at Goats); produced by Jan Chapman (The Piano, Holy Smoke) and Caroline Hewitt (The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy co-producer); and stars Ben Whishaw (Perfume: The Story of A Murder, Brideshead Revisited) and Abbie Cornish (A Good Year, Stop-Loss). 

Bright Star has a run time of 119 minutes and is rated PG for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking.   Visit Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on the Web at www.SonyPictures.com.

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