The Edge of Love (2008) User Reviews

Moments of Cinematic Beauty

[Chinarose77 · 5/10 · 19 February 2009]

Naturally, before watching this film, ones expectations are high. The tale of Dylan Thomas and his lovers promises to be exhilarating. The stars used in the production hold high promise. However the result is different. There is just something not quite right about this film.

Whilst it manages to capture the viewer with moments of cinematic beauty, The Edge of Love fails to entice. In some scenes the cinematography is perfect. The set design and costume cannot be faulted. The glamour and horror of the era are portrayed perfectly. But the story itself does not piece together. The sudden friendship of the two women seems too soon and lacking in explanation. The characters have little depth and I felt no real sympathy for any of them. It almost seems as if several crucial scenes were omitted.

The film itself is fairly disappointing, but perhaps worth watching for the moments when everything comes together because when this happens the film is stunning.

Not a bad film. Just one that could have been better

[seawalker · 6/10 · 1 July 2008]

With the shadow of La Knightely looming large, I really wanted "The Edge Of Love" to be another "Atonement" - a big, beautiful looking, poetic wartime romance - but it wasn't. Do not get me wrong, there are many good things in "The Edge Of Love". It just did not touch my heart the way that "Atonement" did.

The acting is uniformly fine. Tabloid darlings Keira Knightley, and Sienna Miller especially, proved that their performances in "Atonement" and "Factory Girl" respectively were no flash in the pan. They were both excellent. Cillian Murphy is also good as Keira Knightley's war traumatised husband and Matthew Rhys got to the heart of the indifferent, drunken, selfish chancer that was Dylan Thomas.

"The Edge Of Love" looks fantastic. Contrast and compare the cinematography of the 'London during the blitz' setting of the first half with the bleakness of the Welsh coastal town of the second half. The first half of the film presents almost a fantasy world: Dreamy and just out of focus. Smoky pubs, soft lighting and shadows. The second half of the film presents a hard reality: Harsh pebble beaches and wide open spaces. Rain, grass, pain and small town mediocrity. In the former romance flourishes amid the cigarette smoke and the alcohol; in the latter romance fractures, and there will be a reckoning for bad behaviour.

(I will say at this juncture that most critics have written that the film loses it's heart when it moves out of London. I disagree. I think the film becomes real and true once it moves to Wales. The second half is my favourite half of the film.)

But sadly, and whisper this very quietly, "The Edge Of Love" is just a little bit too dull. Mood movies, and "The Edge Of Love" is definitely a mood movie, have to walk a very fine line between immersion in atmosphere and the demands of plot to keep the punters interested. Too often "The Edge Of Love" falls into the former. It needed more story.

Not a bad film, just one that could have been better.

An intense and strangely beautiful film...

[bartekfm · 6/10 · 8 March 2009]

Where would Hollywood have been without Fredric March as Robert Browning or Dennis Price as Lord Byron, famous lovers in their day? Even an actor as normally straitlaced as Michael Redgrave once brought some moody charm to a portrayal of W.B. Yeats. Writers' lives are an endless source of inspiration.

But of all poets it was Dylan Thomas, the roistering, free-loving Welshman who enjoyed a pint or two (and drank himself to death in New York at the age of 39), who was closest in spirit to the film industry. During World War II, he produced scripts for British propaganda documentaries. He even wrote the screenplay of a vapid melodrama called The Three Weird Sisters, in which three old maids in a Welsh village plot the murder of their rich half-brother. All that is now forgiven.

In John Maybury's The Edge of Love, Thomas is played by the Welsh actor Matthew Rhys. It's not a full-scale biopic. The film covers four years in the poet's life during World War II, when he lived with two women: his wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller) and a former lover Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley), whom he met again by chance during the war. It seems he loved them both. The relationship of these extraordinary women -- to Thomas and to each other -- is at the heart of Maybury's absorbing film.

How it came to be made is a story almost as remarkable as that of the lovers themselves. Rebekah Gilbertson, the film's producer, is the granddaughter of Vera Phillips and William Killick. William, a war hero (played in the film by Cillian Murphy), married Vera while she was still in love with the poet. Gilbertson was inspired to make the film when she discovered a book about her grandparents, Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and Bungalow, by David Thomas, describing their tangled lives. Sharman Macdonald, who wrote the screenplay, is the mother of Knightley. The part requires Knightley to sing, and her mother included songs especially for her. Surely no film with such felicitous family connections deserves to do other than succeed.

We begin in London during the Blitz. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, and Phillips is singing to sheltering crowds in an underground Tube station. In a pub, by chance, she meets Thomas and discovers after all these years that he has a wife and child. Phillips and Caitlin form a friendship untroubled by jealousy or rancour and are soon sharing beds and bathtubs, listening to Thomas read his poems, exchanging intimate secrets and smoking their heads off, as everyone did in wartime. Caitlin turns out to be more experienced in the ways of the world ("My first was Augustus John, he seduced me when I was 15"). But it's the refined and soulful Phillips who stirs Thomas's deepest responses and eventually succumbs to his charms. In the meantime, she has reluctantly married Killick, who has seen her in the Tube station and been instantly captivated by her beauty (if not her singing).

It is an intense and strangely beautiful film, though Thomas himself may be its least impressive character. He is best remembered for Under Milk Wood, his verse radio play about a day in the life of the mythical Welsh village of Llareggub, whose name spelt backwards was not something polite English teachers drew attention to. I once had a vinyl recording of Richard Burton reading the poem (he appeared in a film of Under Milk Wood in 1971), and I've never forgotten the creamy, seductive quality of his voice. The legendary charisma, the magnetism of the man, is something I missed in Rhys's performance. Thomas comes across as a strangely pallid, even secondary, figure compared with the women in his life.

In his previous film, Love Is the Devil, Maybury explored the turbulent life of painter Francis Bacon and his sadomasochistic relationship with his lover and model, George Dyer. The Edge of Love seems to me a richer and more satisfying film. If you ask what insights it offers into the springs of Thomas's creative inspiration, I would have to say Llareggub. But as an insight into his egotism, his smouldering moods and his general indifference to the feelings of others, it is wonderfully sad and revealing.

Thomas had a good war, boozing and writing while other men (including Killick) were being traumatised by the horrors of battle. In one scene near the end, Thomas's behaviour towards his friends seems unforgivably callous. But this is not, after all, Thomas's film. Murphy gives us a magnificent study in doomed passion and the emotional debilitation of war. Miller is charming and pathetic as the wife. And Knightley looks almost too exquisitely delicate to be real (as she did in Pride and Prejudice). But this is probably her finest performance. And in every respect the film is worthy of her.

With "friends" like these, who needs the Wehrmacht...?

[chaney1888 · 6/10 · 10 October 2008]

This will be rough and tumbly, as I've just watched the film under less-than-ideal (ahem) circumstances. Let me say first off that I feel sorry for fans of Dylan Thomas: Matthew Rhys is charming beneath his mop of dark curls, his eyes twinkle with mischief, and his expressive voice lends itself well to what few lines of Thomas's poetry he recites, but Dylan Thomas as a character in this film is such an abominable wastrel and a cad that at best he's Satan with a pot-belly and a Welsh accent.

Apologies, too, for this being all over the map. What doesn't work about the film, or seems to work against the filmmakers' intent: Dylan the cad, as above noted. Then the "friendship" between Caitlin Thomas and Vera Phillips, which seems pasted into the film from a photoshoot of Forties style between Sienna Miller (Irish accent off-and-on, and perpetually atrocious) and Keira Knightley (in full shrill-and-brittle mode, right up until the last twenty minutes). In declaring herself "an independent woman" to her admirer and future husband William Killick (Cillian Murphy, and more on him below), she seems to be speaking-- abrasively-- from some future era of organized feminism, a young woman of the Sixties dropped into the Blitz. In film time, Killick's patience with her outlasted mine by about an hour and ten minutes.

Other unworkables: A most unconvincing Blitz. I know that the war isn't the focus of the film, and they had to be shooting on a tight budget, but the grainy newsreel bits just don't cut it. (Nor, especially, does a flashback sequence toward the end, shot to look like an old home movie-- and where, I wondered, did they get the color film stock for those home movies when color film was being rationed even to the major studios?-- which comes off as saccharine and desperate.) Killick, waging war in a Greece that looks exactly like the shale quarry used in any thousand old Doctor Who episodes, doesn't fare much better, but the shock and resolute terror in Murphy's extraordinary blue eyes lend a jarring reality to the material.

Another shortfall: There's no story, really, no arc. There's a dramatic "bump" in the last reel, but all in all it's the rambling tale of two ostensibly despicable people (those being Dylan and Caitlin) who sponge off a truly decent person (poor Bill Killick) through the medium of a person who ought to know better, and who may or may not deserve to profit from the lesson she learns about love and fidelity en route (that, of course, being Vera).

A final grumble, and one that might sound perverse: if those involved in a production feel uncomfortable about staging intimate scenes, might we please return to the dignified days of the discreet fade-out? Not that simulated intercourse isn't ever less than awkward on screen, but if you must resort to shooting a love scene in a way that makes it seem as if we're watching the participants-- here Vera and William-- through a kaleidoscope, then please: cut the scene or call for a rewrite.

What works: The film looks good, in a can-do Masterpiece Theatre way. The Welsh coast is stunning and bleak, all misty light. Keira Knightley's singing voice is surprisingly sweet (which gives one hope that she won't do too great a disservice to "My Fair Lady"). Ms. Knightley herself, despite her prickly defensiveness in the film's early scenes, exhibits a quiet strength and maturity toward the end: a new thing for her, and most refreshing.

But the show belongs to Cillian Murphy. I think this is his best role to date. From the dashing romanticism of Killick in the film's early scenes to the battle-stunned soldier-come-home later on, he brings true shading and subtlety to the film. More importantly, he brings humanity. Dylan sweet-talks most effectively (he's a writer, after all), but the poetry of the film lies in William. He's the angel to Thomas's demon, and without him "The Edge of Love" would be a sad, bitter, ultimately pointless affair.

At times, edge of seat stuff

[ahifi · 7/10 · 23 July 2009]

This is primarily about love in WWII, yet we must remember that it's also a biopic for Dylan Thomas and those around him at this particular stage in his life.

The movie's timing is just great. It really captures what I think would have been the spirit during those times; smiling and hoping you're not going to get bombed. While it may prove boring to some, the movie does have a particularly dangerous edge to it.

At one point, my heart was racing towards the end as the movie hits its climax. It really does feature some poignant moments that are handled with skill by the four main actors. Cillian Murphy is on fine form here, as is Matthew Rhys. Both are polar opposites and it makes for an interesting watch. The relationship formed between Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley's characters is wonderful and we have the acting to thank (and watch out for a cameo by Suggs of 'Madness').

Despite all of this, it's a rather slow movie. Coupled with the fact it's just shy of two hours, it's quite a slog to get to the conclusion.

Overall, it's a solid non-fiction war movie with many wonderfully crafted moments that were no doubt helped by the splendid number of well-known British names behind the scenes. But it really does drone on for too much at times. Still, a worthwhile watch. 7/10

A humanistic tale

[rogerdarlington · 13 July 2008]

Set during the Second World War in both London and Wales, this film portrays the complex relationships between four real-life characters: the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (played by Welsh actor Matthew Rhys abandoning his American accent from the US television series "Brothers And Sisters"), his Irish wife Caitlin MacNamara (British actress Sienna Miller), his first love Vera Phillips (another British actress Keira Knightley) and Vera's husband the British soldier Captain William Killick (Irish actor Cillian Murphy). Many of the incidents represented are a matter of record but other occurrences are simply speculation on the part of screenwriter Sharman Macdonald (Knightley's mother).

In truth, it is Keira Knightley's film. Her striking physiognomy always makes her a pleasure to watch, but this is the finest performance of her young (still only 23) career, as she effects a decent Welsh accent and even sings in a nuanced act of thespian of which she can be proud. Director John Maybury does not make the character or the poetry of Dylan Thomas any more accessible but the bonding and bruising between his wife and his lover make for a humanistic tale.

This film has moments of cinematic beauty.

[aidan-mann · 7/10 · 28 June 2008]

Welsh poet Dylan Thomas excused from serving in active duty is doing his bit for the war effort producing bits of prose for some propaganda branch of government in Whitehall.

Thomas is portrayed as a freethinker believing in free love married to a woman with an equally demanding artistic streak and likewise with a penchant for extramarital romance. Thomas writing and reciting his poetry in systematic domestic mayhem throughout becomes somewhat priggish towards the end, resting somewhat uncomfortably on his society connections and pulling rank on a war veteran, who had shot up his house, and who was incidentally married to the woman he had been having an affair with.

The real story of this film is the love of two women, one (Keira Knightley) whose first love was Thomas (Matthew Rhys), the second (Sienna Miller) who is Thomas's wife. At times it reminds of The Singing Detective, as in very good television with slightly sinister overtones laid on top of scenes of surreal camp absurdity.

Worth a glance if you're REALLY interested otherwise it's not worth the entrance fee.

[anon_is_good · 5/10 · 19 June 2008]

I went to see this as the Edinburgh Film Festival the other day and I have to say I was a bit disappointed.

The score and the cinematography were lush and gorgeous and the acting was very good but the script lacked characterisation. I realise that Dylan Thomas was not meant to have been an overly pleasant man, but I failed to see why the seemingly likable, headstrong character of Vera Phillips ever fell in love with him. He came across as completely selfish and sleazy with virtually no redeeming qualities and it frustrated me that there seemed to be no explanation for every woman fawning over him. Characters made choices out of the blue and eventually I just grew to dislike all the characters I have loved in the first half.

What also grated about this film is that sometimes I swear I could have been watching 'Atonement' the amount of time Keira Knightley said "Come back to me." I really hope she wasn't trying to relive the glory of 'Atonement' through this film because I am afraid she will be sorely disappointed. Even though I personally did not enjoy 'Atonement' I can recognise that it is a marvellous film and sadly "The Edge of Love" just cannot compare.

Love divided by four.

[detkor · 10/10 · 7 October 2008]

Despite the title and unlike some other stories about love and war, this film isn't too sticky and pink, because love is as a rose: With thorns, that is. The four leading actors set their characters realistic and with a good sense and balance between the tragic and the down-to-earth.

The music and lyrics of the cabaret/chanson-esquire songs (sung b Keira Knightley herself) drag the viewer deeper and deeper in the film, from one place to another, between the brutal war and amongst the peaceful love. Some people may find it too much a biopic, but it ís mostly a romantic story, even though it consequently follows the life of Dylan Thomas and the triangular relationship which is steeped by joy and jealousy.

London gets visualized from another angle for once, the bohemian life of Dylan during the bombings of the Germans is set in a floating atmosphere of small bedrooms, pubs and bars. The independent women, the soldier and the charismatic poet are constantly swept in both feelings of love and anger.

Maybe the end is too twisted and hangs somewhat loosely to the rest of the film, but all in all this is a great romantic story.

Male Reviewers Hated This Movie

[gsandra-26876 · 7/10 · 2 August 2021]

If you went by the mostlly male MetaCritic reviewers, you'd think this was one of the worst films ever made. I thought it was good -- not great -- but held my interest throughout and I thought the actors were very attractive and convincing in their roles.

I don't know anything about Dylan Thomas. From what was read/spoken in the film, I don't think much of his poetry. Sounds like he tried way too hard and reached, but missed. The lines were contrived and didn't seem to make much sense. I like Archibald MacLeisch.

Mathew Rhys was very good at playing the womanizing villain, but with charm and believability. Knightly and the other female lead were also interesting characters in this wartime drama.

I think more women would rate this film higher than men because women would understand the female friendship as well as the slick charm of a Mr. Wrong.

Life, "Love" and Loss during Wartime. Dreadful and in no way could have been better

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 5/10 · 28 August 2013]

Love triangle? Forget it, this is a love square involving famous poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), his wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller), his lover and later her friend Vera (Keira Knightley) and an admirer of her, the soldier William (Cillian Murphy). But not necessarily involving all of them together, even though there's the knowledge of all parts that there's something on in between them. And the background of this turbulent relationship is England during World War 2 with the bombs falling over their heads while they "love" and hate each other, and write poems about it. "The Edge of Love" isn't a romantic story of meetings, falling in love and break-ups, it's the upside of those, it's everything else but love. Pitiful

It's about selfish characters using the L word to express themselves and make this movie going. Whatever that was it wasn't love. Only William perhaps, he's the only genuine soul in this and the one who got hurt the most. A good lesson to be learned in here. If you're going to get too close, you really must try your best to know the other one. Strange friendship relations are also explored in here. In what world you would imagine a woman making friends with her husband's lover and expecting nothing more to happen? Whatever. William is real while the other folks were just exploiters seeking benefits, money or used as muses in order to "help" the creative genius of a nasty drunk bugger. And what was the point of this, anyway? To prove that friendship can last even after a lot of misunderstandings and betrayals? Gee, how exciting for a motion picture to be developed. Next time, a similar work (but better!) could be made about writer Euclides da Cunha (Google it, please!) and that would make a far more interesting (and even more tragic) piece than this film.

The real life, in this particular case, wasn't all that interesting, therefore this is a movie that not even a great screenplay would make it better. Skip this with no regrets and treat yourself with "Bright Star" which is about a real love story, with very meaningful things to say and there's the delightful words of John Keats to leave you marveled. In there, it's life and art combined producing quality material. Here, there's nothing. I know very little of Dylan Thomas and after "The Edge of Love" I'll still know very little of him. Why? Not only does this movie doesn't generate any kind of sympathy for the man (couldn't even care for the actor playing him as well), almost no attributes and it gives so little of the artist (which sounds very limited with his writings) that I simply lost it. I won't search for his books. And that's the worst kind of service a movie can make while making a portrayal of a real figure. As quoted by a famous character in another movie: "He was a genius, a poet and a drunk." I can only agree with the last part.

It wasn't that bad. There's a gorgeous cinematography very suitable for the game of appearances all the characters were involved, good costumes and art direction, and Cillian was the best thing in it with this decent guy who falls in love with the wrong person, goes to the war and sees its horrors to later return transformed and with his marriage going downhill, poor and with a kid to raise. I cared for this character, opposed to the poet which not only I hated but couldn't understand what women saw in him. It may be the words but those don't translated so well while echoed in tiring voice overs. It sounds pretentious and lifeless. And it certainly wasn't for the looks, since he was quite ugly and with no expression. Keira and Sienna work best when together sharing their stories and dreams; with the male actors is just embarrassing to look. Still one of the weakest films I've ever seen. 5/10

Give it a go..

[jennymurphy1990 · 8/10 · 8 July 2008]

So keira knightly is in it...So automatically we compare this film to attonement. Aside rom the fact that this film is also wartime and her appearance is uncanning, these films are totally different.

The Actors work well, i think one good thing is there is no memorable person, they are a team.

If you want a film where things happen, then id advise another as the story of this film is about human interaction and their physche's damaged by their experiences and how their lives are intertwined.

This film have genuine interaction, perfect pause moments that make you hold your breath. No its not exciting, but it is gripping if you can empathise with these characters. At moments i wondered if this film may have been better as a theatrical play rather than a movie. We expect a lot from movies as everything is possible, and yet with theatre we allow for interaction and rely on belief.

There are things wrong with it if your looking for a blockbuster, if you look for nothing and allow the film to take you in, move you, allow yourself to forget these stars, and not to judge them as actors but let them become people, you will truly ind yourself moved.

GO ON!! give it a go!

In a word "re-Atonement"

[gannett · 7/10 · 11 November 2008]

With its ww2 timing, falling in and out of love, and easy on the eye Kira, this is re-Atonement.

This a relationship story with focused main characters working out the the balance between first and fast love in the home front of WW2. Poet Dylan Thomas philanders his way between wife and ex in dark and smoky Blitz London and later in windy wales.

Vera's ex and next spark off each other as the poet and soldier become a sideline while the girls bond and share. An easy watch that works well in the era bouncing along with just a few dips in pace. Would work well with French subtitles but then I may have been to too many art house movies lately.

Is there really a story in there?

[kjewitt · 5/10 · 28 June 2008]

I'd like to think that there is a space in the market for "intelligent" and "adult" films which aren't just about exploding robots, hidden magic worlds etc. This film ticks many of the required boxes, but I think it plays into the hands of fans of non-intelligent and adult films who are always ready to say "where's the story? What am I supposed to get excited about?" There is a definite problem that there is no clear protagonist. It's very easy to be sniffy about McKie and Hollywood story structure: but, on the other hand, it's very hard to make a film unless you have a protagonist who is in jeopardy and who changes as a result. Vera (KK) probably gets the most screen time: but she doesn't really change much. William (Cillian Murphy) is the character who faces the greatest danger: but we don't see the film through his eyes. Overall, I think the performances and the film-making generally are good enough: there is also plenty of adequate dialogue and texture in the writing: but the story isn't really strong enough. It's really a Sunday evening, one hour, made for TV drama which fits very well with the remit of BBC television: but I can't see why it should be on the big screen. Re Sienna Miller as Caitlin, I heard Mark Kermode deliver a spectacular condemnation before I saw the film. I sort of agree that the accent is all over the place but that for me wasn't the real problem: I just don't think she is mad and bad enough. The gooey ending with KK and SM struggling to part, and sort of promising always to be friends, is absurd. At no point in the film has their friendship ever been an important issue for the audience, and it is ridiculous to expect the audience to start caring about it here.

Close to the edge

[1930s_Time_Machine · 7/10 · 24 October 2022]

This beautifully made film possibly evokes the feel of London in the blitz more than any other film. Set during wartime, it's about relationships and friendship. Primarily it's about the friendship between Keira Knightly's character and that of Siena Miller which is tested beyond any limit known to man.... or in this case, woman. Everyone looks great, everyone seems real and the very stylish photography and energy of the direction make this a real masterpiece of fine art.

The story, incidentally written by Keira Knightly's mother(!) brilliantly captures the mood and the anxieties, fears and hopes of the time and by focusing on the main, slightly unhinged characters, enhances these emotions and mental stains. Everything is switched up to level 11 but behind a mask of British restraint and respectability. The story arc itself is both engaging and genuinely exciting - it's not a soppy love story or a chic-flick for the poetry reading set - it's set during the war after all!

As much as the story is great, one big problem is that it is mainly made-up nonsense. The characters and events were real but they didn't happen like this. The real facts actually sound just as interesting but probably they would not have had Keira Knightly looking quite so hot? Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, as they say!

Artistic execution of a boring tale

[Gordon-11 · 19 October 2008]

This film is about the complicated friendship, romance and deceit between two men and two women during the World War II.

A lot of effort has been put to make "The Edge of Love"look the right period. However, I find this effort too excessive, particularly in terms of the tone of the colours. Most of the first half of the film is processed so much to have a strong bluish tone. It's hard to make out who's who in this tone.

Another detrimental point is the fancy use of image splitting lens. There are many scenes that have three or four images of the same thing, such as three Keira Knightley smiling face or four pairs of arms in embrace. That simply makes the film confusing and hard to follow, instead of being artistic.

As for the plot, it is plain boring. The way the story unfolds is not engaging at all. Sienna Miller's unstable character is annoying. In fact all the main characters are annoying and unlikeable. Keira Knightley's accent is impossible to understand, making it a further impediment to understanding the plot.

I strongly advise avoiding "The Edge of Love", unless you watch a film only to appreciate great costumes, nice sets and lighting.

The performances and the technical aspects make this worth seeing

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 20 October 2009]

Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller stars in the story of two of the women in the life of Dylan Thomas. Knightley is Thomas's boyhood sweetheart he re-encounters during the Blitz. Meeting at a bar they reconnect, however things become complicated when Thomas' brings his wife (Miller) along the next time he meets her. The women hit it off and things proceed at pace until the trio are joined by the man who will become Knightly's husband. This further complicates things as jealousy begins to show its face.

Beautiful to look at, extraordinarily written and wonderfully acted (everyone disappears completely into their roles) this is a sumptuous feast for the eyes and the ears. It's so nice to see a film about adults being adults. On a purely visceral level I really enjoyed watching the film because the film is so artistically pleasing. Rarely have I ever seen a film that is this beautifully crafted.

The trouble with the film is I'm not entirely sure of everything that happened. Something seemed to be missing and a couple of times I had to replay the film to see if I missed something. Its not bad, but its not completely satisfying as a result. (I tried to look up on line to see how much of the film is true but I couldn't find anything) Still I think this is a film worth seeing. It's a beautiful film for adults with probably the best acting the leads have done.

See this movie.

[murphy-boy · 6/10 · 29 June 2008]

I saw this movie last night and must admit I was not eager to see it. However, I came away extremely moved by the way a simple plot was handled and acted.

Please see this movie and do not assume that it is a 'love story', It is in fact a very moving and strangely worrying depiction of human behaviour and attitudes to personal and social issues of both 'then' and 'now' Please see it.

I was also pleased to see some new and raw talent being used highly successfully in Ciallan Murphy. I haven't experienced this kind of sincere and human display of emotion for a long time. I was reminded of a young Dirk Bogarde and although that may not be fashionable by today's standards, I found it very refreshing and extremely hopeful for the movie industry. More please!!

overwrought romances

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 7 August 2016]

It's the blitz over WWII London. Nightclub singer Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) reunites with old flame poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). His unstable wife Caitlin Macnamara (Sienna Miller) joins them. British officer William Killick (Cillian Murphy) is taken with Vera. He eventually gets her to marry him. He leaves for war and she discovers that she's pregnant. She joins Dylan's family in Wales seaside homes.

The style leaves the movie feeling artificial. The problem is that it infects the characters' overwrought romances. Everything and everyone feels fake. In the first half, it's hard to watch these great actors putting down big emotional scenes that ultimately don't work. Leaving London does help to strip the movie of its glossy unreality. It allows the emotions to gain true weight. The second half is better but it's not quite enough.

Best British Film of the Year?

[Chris_Docker · 10/10 · 17 June 2008]

Can you capture the moment? When first you hear rain on a roof? Some things are beyond the sum of their parts, expressing the poetry of life. The things that matter.

Poet Dylan Thomas captured the seemingly inexpressible "A good poem helps to . . . extend everyone's knowledge, of himself and the world around him." (Bob Dylan named himself after him). So why has it taken so long to make a film of the great Dylan Thomas? A simple biopic could have missed the point. Writer Sharman Macdonald has taken a different, better approach.

In The Edge of Love, she creates the world of passions and complexities that fill the poems so we can swim in them. The lives of four friends. Dylan, who lusts and loves to the full. Wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller), his feisty support. War-hero William (Cillian Murphy), who saves him from a street brawl. And then there's his childhood sweetheart. Vera. Dear Vera. Take your breath away Vera. She's Caitlin's closest friend. William's wife. And, like a muse, the 'star' in Dylan's dark sky.

It all kicks off in the 1940 London Blitz, with bomb shelters in the Underground. Enter Vera (an impressive Keira Knightley) under makeshift stage spotlights. She meets Dylan for the first time again in years, her heart is flushed. Their eyes shine through the smoke of the room. The purity of their former passion. Dylan (native Welsh-speaker, Matthew Rhys) is no sanctified, sanitised poet. Master of his vices he must experience them all fully. He introduces his beloved wife then continues to woo Vera.

The Edge of Love is a visual treat. The soundtrack leaves you wanting for more. Performances are possibly the best by these actors in their careers. As a lush love story it's pretty good. As an insight into Dylan Thomas and the reality of poetry in all our lives, not bad at all. And as a tribute to a great man, inspiring.

The production has been at pains to project the spirit of Dylan Thomas without compromising historical accuracy too much. Dramatic tension involves a pull between artistic freedom and conventional morality. Audiences looking for an experience based on the latter may be disappointed. And it will play less well to audiences whose boundaries are those of Albert Square.

Sharman Macdonald seemed aware of the headstrong nature of artistic freedom and its limits when she spoke to producer Rebekah Gilbertson (granddaughter of the real William and Vera). "Think of all the things that you don't want me to write about," she said," because I have to have carte blanche." For Macdonald, the limits were if she should cause offence to Dylan's memory. But for many artists, especially men, the limits are those which wife and family could set on them. A woman is not going to let lofty ideals interfere with practical common sense issues, and will even put her children's interests before her own (This occasionally happens the other way round, as when towering genius Virginia Woolf refused to let loving Leonard bring her down to earth - in The Hours).

In spite of the tension between Caitlin and Vera, these two women become closest buddies. It is one of the main (and very beautiful) themes of the film.

The film's colours tell a story in themselves. In a drab, wartime Britain, Caitlin and Vera are vivid highlights in an ocean of grey. Shortly after meeting Vera's lit-up-in-lights stage persona, we encounter Caitlin through her searing blue eyes, sparkling in a darkened railway carriage. Her dramatic red coat cuts a dash through streets of colourless homogeneity, triumphing on a beautiful staircase as she reunites with Dylan. But Vera's lipstick red brightness is less enduring. For her, marriage is second-best, even when she has become possessed with genuine love for her husband.

Outstanding cinematography extends to using montage to juxtapose images, in a manner similar to poetry's juxtaposition of unrelated words to create further meaning. Horrific war scenes in Thessaly are intercut with screams of Vera in pregnancy. Giving birth or is it abortion? We are not told immediately. Pain is universal and goes beyond time and place to our present day.

Constant echoes of Dylan's poetry throughout the film lead us beyond earthly opposites. It reminds me of Marlon Brando reading TS Eliot in Apocalypse Now. A light beyond the horrors of the world. A different way of seeing things. "I'll take you back to a time when no bombs fell from the sky and no-one died – ever," says Dylan to Vera as they walk along the beach. Elsewhere, Caitlin recalls childhood with Vera: "We're still innocent in Dylan," she says.

There's a time to leave your knickers at home or share a universal cigarette. (Not literally, perhaps.) A time to be inspired. Enjoy what is possibly the best British film of the year.

Slow, and a little soap-operatic, but stylish, and well acted.

[Samiam3 · 7/10 · 18 October 2009]

Although I am very familiar with poet Dylan Thomas, I know nothing of his life. Whatever his life and specifically his marriage involved, I would imagine that The Edge of Love (based on the novel) manipulates things a bit, but unless you are a historian or a poet, who cares.

The movie is less about Thomas and more focused on the two most important women in his life. One is his wife Kathrine, and the other is Vera who was his first love. One romantic night on the beach as youths is something that both have tried to put behind them but cannot, now grown up they are good friends. I forgot to mention that this is set during the war. Vera becomes engaged to Captain Will Killing who he gets her pregnant and leaves for war. While he is away, Vera starts to fall for Thomas again, and Kathrine has fallen out of love with him. She is also carrying another man's child. Things get even more emotionally complex when Capt Killig returns

As you can see, it is a very soap operatic plot, and it takes shape in a fairy drab slow manner, with perhaps one too many sequences of sappy dialogue. But all is not lost yet. For a non- Hollywood production, I think that the Edge of Love is about as stylish a picture as one can get. It is certainly more dimensional and intelligent than about 90% of contemporary romances, Hollywood production or not. Some of it has to do with being set during the war, which sets up emotional conflict that feels more convincing and less artificial, a bit like Atonement. this one features acting and cinematography of equal talent to Joe Wright's Oscar nominee, but it is in far greater need for stable pacing and progression. Things are okay at the start and finish, but the middle section is where your attention span may be tested, unless you are deeply and profoundly rooted in the story.

I doubt if The Edge of Love will have that kind of an effect on the viewer, but is a good film to check. it might even make a good date night movie, considering it is so much smarter than the chick flicks that boyfriends are forced to endure today.

Keira Knightley's most Boring movie till date

[saadgkhan · 3/10 · 28 July 2010]

THE EDGE OF LOVE – TRASH IT ( C ) Keira Knightley's most Boring movie till date…She & Sienna Miller looked gorgeous...But the movie didn't live up to the expectations… the locations were stunning but the movie was very slow… Cillian Murphy acted really well as always and I think Matthew Ryes was totally miscast (He only looked like Dylan Thomas), he couldn't stand up among them, he wasn't charming as Dylan Thomas was suppose to be, Anyways there was Bad Direction & Poor Writing as well… Both Keira Knightley & Sienna Miller Couldn't Save this One though their Performances Were Really good. I really wished that if they worked on story a little bit more so it would have been more interesting and intriguing for us.

Portrait Of An Artist as a Bad Man

[jmelvin1-1 · 8/10 · 16 November 2008]

From the start of "The Edge Of Love", the viewer is transported to the striking world of WW2 London. We follow the lives of four people who might have been created just for this movie, an exploration of female friendship and the strains caused on it by marriage and infidelity. Except one of the characters is named Dylan Thomas, perhaps the greatest English poet of the 20th century. And his reactions to the world around him were not only selfish, but at times truly despicable.

This movie is based on Thomas' writings about love and romance. These were adapted with a sharp screenplay by Sharman MacDonald (Keira Knightley's mother). The director, John Maybury, does claim that the three other lead characters were actual people.

All four are performed very strongly. Sienna Miller is Dylan's wife, Keira Knightley is the cabaret singer Vera Phillips. Matthew Rhys is Dylan Thomas, and Cillian Murphy is William Killick. The first section of the movie takes place in London during the Nazi air raids, with Vera being pursued by Willaim, a soldier waiting for deployment. By a chance encounter, Dylan meets with his first love, Vera. From there Vera meets Caitlin, Dylan's wife. While the three are drinking, William successfully breaks Vera's guard.

The film follows their lives as Vera and William are married and he is sent to war. Vera has become pregnant, and returns to Wales with Dylan and Caitlin. There they face a gritty existence, with Vera supporting Dylan and Caitlin with her husband's war pay. Through these times, Vera's and Caitlin's friendship grows. So does Dylan's infatuation with Vera. She gives in. This creates the first test for the two women.

When William returns from war, he barely recognizes his wife, and has no bond with his infant son. Things get worse, as Dylan idly watches his friend struggle with battleground fatigue (post traumatic stress disorder). William realizes something has happened between Dylan and Vera, and in a drunken rage shoots up Dylan's house.

"Edge Of Love" starts as a stylish romance in war torn London and ends in the stark, gritty life of motherhood, infidelity, and attempted murder in Wales. The treatment of PTSD is well done, and should speak to an American audience. Some day (see ending).

Each star has a great moment. Miller when she is yanking out stitches in her head in response to her abortion of another man's child. Knightley and Murpy when he finally bonds with his son. Oh hell, almost all their scenes are awesome. And Rhys when he purgers himself on the stand to get Vera's husband sent to jail.

Yet, the real star of the movie is Jonathan Freeman's cinematography and John Maybury's direction. They seem to understand that no matter how good the story or how historical Thomas is, this is a film dominated by two great actresses of our time. And they cherish their scenes with stunning shots. While this isn't best picture material, it is a very good movie (much more engaging than "The Dutchess"). It has a visual lyricism that accentuates the use of Thomas' poetry. Also, this is clearly Knightley's second best performance of her career, and perhaps Miller's best.

I have always had a weakness for the Artist in struggle, whether it's Hulce's Mozart, or Hoffman's Capote. But I was stunned at how little sympathy I felt for Dylan Thomas. His struggles with alcohol are well known. But his antagonism of William and Caitlin to gain possession of his first love Vera makes him out to be.....a bad man.

So is this Academy Award Worthy? Clearly no. At least, not this year. It will be released state side in March, 2009, making it ineligible for the Academies. This is 9 months after it was released in Britain. Between Atonement, Miss Pettigrew, and Brideshead Revisited, the US has had its fill of WW2 British period pieces. Too bad. This film is better then the other ones, except Atonement. But in this one, Knightley's soldier does come back, but as a shell of the man who left her.

A story of flawed but charming human beings

[georgioskarpouzas · 7/10 · 17 March 2009]

Given that Dylan Thomas is an icon of modern Anglophone poetry I expected a movie that would be prone to a hagiography of the subject. On the contrary the poet is presented as sexually irresponsible, a drunkard, a bad father, a lier and a hypocrite and perhaps a coward. Of course one could argue that all those things are an advantage when some one is an artist and especially a poet since one of the purposes of art is to subvert the standards of conventional morality but still I do not thing that a positive role model could crop up from such a bundle of personality traits. Any way I found the other male hero of the story Captain Cillic a more endearing character. The two female roles were played by actresses Knigtley and Miller and were truly charming especially the first when she performed songs in slim outfit to inspire bombarded Londoners during WW2. Another good point is the role that sexual jealousy plays even in relatively progressive milieus that think that age-old conventions can easily be surpassed.The atmosphere of the Blitz was also convincing as well as the portrayal of the distinct outlooks among people who have experienced war as opposed to those who talk about it theorizing on it's possible political outcomes.I think one would recommend such a movie.

I am afraid I don't love Keira that much anymore

[staveren-1 · 5/10 · 22 September 2008]

Quite disappointing actually. I was never a great fan of 'Atonement' and this movie does nothing to rehabilitate Keira. She was wonderful in Pride and Prejudice and I loved her in Love Actually. In this movie Sienna Miller was better. The famous poet was not very sexy and William the beloved husband looked like a stiff. Why was Vera suddenly so very much in love with him? She did not even like him when they married end only her own letters made her romantic toward him. The war-scenes looked like they were copied from Atonement and were not very realistic. The pace of the movie was OK and kept me in my chair, but the rest sorry. No.