And then Fanny cuts her hair off and walks the heath, in the snow, reciting a Keats poem and weeping. Campion could have saved that bit by cutting to credits after the affecting wide shot of Fanny crossing a lea and her teenage brother dutifully trailing her, but she didn’t, so the movie squanders its promising beginning with a conclusion straight out of a term paper.
Yes, that. Straight to credits would have, for me, made the too long, too heavy scenes…worth it? Less noticeable at the very least. Fanny reading his work is something we already know she does: that groundwork’s been laid; on the heels of his death, she’s sure to continue but we don’t need to see it.
