This week’s Loaded Question is about movies featuring underappreciated women from history, and I thought a perfect streaming tie-in would be 2009’s Bright Star, one of the most breathtakingly lovely movies I’ve ever seen. Jane Campion’s ode to Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), muse to early-19th-century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw), centers her: it lavishes its attention so much on her, in fact, that you’d be forgiven for thinking that she is the one who will later be legendary. (She’s obsessed with fashion and makes her own clothes; perhaps that’s what she becomes famous for?)
But, ironically, this strikingly feminist film from one of our most important female filmmakers is not available to stream anywhere at all in the United States. So even on the rare occasion when an underappreciated woman does feature in a movie, good luck finding a way to watch it. (Read my 2009 review.)
US: streaming nowhere (but is available on DVD)
UK: rent/buy on Prime; buy on Apple TV
See Bright Star at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
