What was with her brother Samuel?

The whole American DVD was odd. First of all it led off with more previews of uninteresting films than I have ever before seen packed in front of a feature. Not that I watch them, but I take note. Second, from the input on this board, the Canadian DVD and the American DVD had a slight difference in one scene. Third, no running commentary! And fourth, as you mention, there must have been many deleted scenes yet we only get to see one. It's a good one, but only one.

This DVD was definitely rushed. And even Abbie Cornish has spoken out that she is disappointed in the lack of a Blu-ray release.

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

I don't know anything about the real Samuel Brawne. But the movie made me VERY aware of Toots and Samuel. And I never got the feeling that either one of them had an unfinished story arc. To me, we got just the right amount, considering the focus of the film.

We don't really get an idea of Samuel's relationship with Keats, though they obviously get along (e.g. the Scots dancing at the Christmas dinner). We see more of Toots --partly because, on a practical level, she and Fanny share a room. It's also clear that Toots and Keats adore each other. In part, I think that was possible because people are more openly affectionate with small children. She also has some wonderful lines, like her request at Christmas dinner for a poem. (“A short one.”)

But Thomas was older. (How old? I’m not sure.) And because he isn’t as innocent as Toots, he wouldn’t spontaneously “speak truth” like she does. But I was always conscious of Toots and Samuel, watching, absorbing and (I assume) being shaped by adult events. And so, though Samuel was so often silent, I became more and more aware of him throughout the film.

For instance, after Keats reaches across the table to take Fanny's hand, we suddenly see Thomas, quietly putting his violin in his case, watching the romance unfold. Frankly, I’d forgotten he was there, and I wondered both at his tact and what he must have thought of what he'd seen.

Both Toots and Samuel saw that scene between Tom and John Keats, with Tom delirious, clinging to John and close to death. Both Samuel and Toots heard Mr. Brown read the letter from Severn about Keats’ death, and saw Fanny’s reaction. And at the end, when Fanny takes her walk across the snow, her mother immediately sends Samuel to follow her at a distance – I assume he was on a kind of suicide watch.

Slate.com’s movie critic did a lovely video about how intimate the movie is, how it shows a world in which people were often witnesses to personal events that in today’s busy world we would not see. To me, Toots and Samuel were part of that. They were in the background, but I felt their presence. And though the movie left me with questions about Samuel, they weren't the sort that made the movie feel unfinished. I just realized that he was on the cusp of adolescence, was someone of depth and interest, and had his own story …. for another film, perhaps.

Thomas Sangster was beautifully cast. He was an earnest, sweet and grave young man.

I agree with noagenda that it seemed odd not to see more or Severn. I was far more aware of the friend who defended Keats' poetry (praising the unexpected rhythm, how the poem let you fly) and the very attentive friend who asked Keats how he would feel about a winter in Rome, who proposed his friends pay for it together, who made sure that his passage was fully paid for, etc. (I hope I remember those details right.) Can someone tell me who those characters were?