Acclaimed director Jane Campion says she considered quitting the movie business for good until she fell in love with her latest film, Bright Star.
The film, starring Australian actress Abbie Cornish and English actor Ben Whishaw, tells the story of the ill-fated love affair between romantic poet John Keats and his neighbour, Fanny Brawne.
It is Campion's first feature film since In The Cut in 2003, and is rated her best work since The Piano in 1993.
Some critics are calling it her comeback film.
"It's a comeback. We can call it a comeback," Campion laughed.
"It was really a decision to take four or five years off and maybe not come back, because maybe I've done everything I want to do and had enough, and maybe I'll be a cobbler like Daniel Day Lewis.
"I was just really wondering: is this what I want to do? And I wanted to look after my daughter more intensively."
It was while reading Andrew Motion's book about Keats that Campion discovered a love story between the poet and the young woman to rival Romeo and Juliet.
She wrote the film, telling the story through the eyes of Fanny.
The film had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year, and was one of the highlights of the Toronto International Film Festival.
It is also generating Oscar nomination buzz for Cornish, who Campion calls "a genius".
"I think it was brilliant for me to have that time to think and to fall in love with a project like this which seemed to have no commercial value whatsoever, but just go ,'Oh well I still love it so this is what I have to do, this is my fate,'" she said.
"In this case, because the film has this beautiful side and people like the experience of it ... it actually has found a big place in the world - much bigger than any of us imagined. Which is encouraging."
Bright Star had its Australian premiere on Monday night in Sydney, and is due to open nationally on December 26.
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