a brighter word than bright.

The photos below are but a few glimpses into the world of Bright Star. The heroine, Fanny Brawne, is a 19th century Erin Fetherston; she finds release from the limits placed upon women by crafting frothy, everyday fairy princess confections for herself, complete with artful ruffles and pintucks, and utilizing color in a way rarely seen at that time.

And some more stills, just because.

The love letters in the film, are all real letters written by Keats (he had ordered all of Fanny's letters to him burned upon his death, so I assume that her letters back to him were Jane Campion's own imaginings) and are among the most beautiful of all his writing. It makes me long for the time when love letters were as prevalent as booty-call texts are today, and nostalgic for all epistolary relationships in general. There is nothing like crafting and receiving hand written mail... and I hope that the art of it will matriculate back into common practice. My hope is that there will be a second coming of the Romantic era of art and literature -- as the original was a backlash against technology and the Machine Age to begin with, and do we not have even more technology to rebel against today?

Let's bring back letter writing. Buy yourself -- or better yet, make yourself -- some beautiful stationary today and write a letter to someone you love. Tomorrow is Valentine's day after all, so is it not a most appropriate season for such things?

Put on a pretty dress, pick up a pen, and look out the window. Or climb a tree. Or do it all.

And most of all, of course, go Watch. Bright. Star. NOW.

p.s. The Bright Star website is so, so beautiful. I urge you to take some time to explore it here. The nature snapshots I posted were taken by Greg Fraiser, the director of photography, when he was getting to know the light. There is so much more beauty where those came from.