Ditchling Film Society in June

Our next film will be on Thursday, 2 June 2011 when we are showing Bright Star, a beautifully crafted account of the poet John Keats’s romance with Fanny Brawne. The film’s title is a reference to a sonnet by Keats - “Bright Star would I were steadfast as thou art ….” which he wrote whilst he was with Fanny. Set in London in 1818, the pair are initially at odds with one another but slowly an intense and obsessive love affair develops between the 23 year old Romantic poet Keats, (Ben Wishaw) and Fanny Brawne, (Abbie Cornish) a stylish dressmaker. The secret affair is only revealed in 1865, ten years after Fanny’s death. The film is defiantly unfashionable in its romantic treatment of their love murdered by the false choice between love and art, and sacrificed to a petty tangle of money worries, social scruples and irrelevant male loyalties. Ravishingly filmed by Jane Campion, (of The Piano fame), the film with its exquisite scenery, beautiful musical score and superb costumes is a feast for the eyes. Quoting from the Guardian “very few films allow you to listen to the sounds of silence between the lines of dialogue: the sounds of birdsong, or the rustle of clothing, or footfalls in a country lane,” but this film does just that.

Director: Jane Campion. France/UK/USA 2009. 119 min.

The film will be shown in Ditchling Village Hall. The film starts at 8.00 pm. Doors open at 7.30 pm. Free coffee and biscuits beforehand and ample free parking behind the hall. Guests and temporary members are welcome for a small charge payable at the door. Rowena

Please note we are not showing a film during May because of the Local Election taking place in the Village Hall.