A return to Bright Star

After watching the movie Bright Star, I had a new interpretation of his lines "awake for ever in a sweet unrest" (12). The movie shows Keats' love affair with Fanny Brawne. The relationship is filled with tender emotion and passionate feelings, and the viewer becomes invested in the relationship's ability to survive. Throughout the movie, the viewer sees Keats and Fanny spend a lot of time together and enjoy each others company seemingly more than they either enjoys the company of any else. The movie also shows the pain that each feels when the two are separated and even shows multiple occasions when Fanny is brought to violent tears because of how much she misses Keats. Going into the movie we all knew that Keats dies young, and that with that knowledge we all assumed that this relationship would not last. However, it was increasingly painful to watch the two of them grow so close throughout the film, because (at least the film presented it this way) the two seemed genuinely in love with one another. When John Keats does die, Fanny cries historically on screen, and cries out for her mother because she cannot catch her breath.
This final scene brought me back to Bright Star, and the star's "sweet unrest," because what it truly means to be awake forever. The stars above this relationship that (of course this is symbolic) look down over the relationship between Keats and Fanny, and also look down on all others, witness such romance and love, but also inevitably heartbreak and pain. The tension in the phrase sweet unrest was made clear to me as I watched the actress playing Fanny cry. This moment was incredibly touching and filled with love. It was a beautiful moment because it exemplified how strongly she loved Keats. However, it also left me feeling incredibly uneasy, because I could not help but imagine the pain of being so young and losing the person you love. The movie ends with a short description on the screen that says Fanny thought about Keats for the rest of her life. In a way the love between them was also "awake for ever" and yet this love must remain within this undefinable tension as well. Ultimately, the film gave me an image of this seemingly contradictory line, because it captures a truth about human relationships. All relationships come to an end because all people must die, but the great relationships have a love that remains after the people are gone. There is an abundance of pleasure and pain in all of these relationships and these two entities struggle against one another and compete to dominate the perception of those involved.