Plot
Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.
Release Year: 2008
Rating: 6.2/10 (7,136 voted)
Critic's Score: 39/100
Director:
John Maybury
Stars: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys
Storyline Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both. The passion and pathos of legendary poet Dylan Thomas is told through the lives of two extraordinary women. Vera Phillips and Dylan were teenage loves; fast forward ten years and the two reconnect in London. She's working as a singer whilst he's churning out scripts for government propaganda films and living off the last in a long line of infatuated women. The two former lovers feel the thunderbolt once more, but Thomas is now married to the adventurous Caitlin. Despite their love-rival status, the women form a surprising friendship. Caitlin indulges in her own infidelities, and recognises a similar adventurous spirit in her husband. But she knows his connection with Vera is something different, not to mention dangerous. Romantic turmoil continues in Vera's life. She marries her devoted admirer William Killick...
Cast: Simon Armstrong
-
Wilfred Hosgood
Ben Batt
-
Sergeant
Geoffrey Beevers
-
Registrar
Rachel Bell
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Midwife
Paul Brooke
-
Mr. Justice Singleton
Huw Ceredig
-
John Patrick
Richard Clifford
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Alistair Graham
Richard Dillane
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Lt Col David Talbot Rice
Joel Dommett
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Train Soldier
Rachel Essex
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Mel
Craig Gallivan
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Sailor Beating Dylan
Callum Godfrey
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Boy on Train
Simon Kassianides
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Partisan
Keira Knightley
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Vera Phillips
Anne Lambton
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Anita Shenkin
Taglines:
The only thing more dangerous than war... is love.
Filming Locations: Aldwych Underground Station, Aldwych, Holborn, London, England, UK
Opening Weekend: £180,837
(UK)
(22 June 2008)
(52 Screens)
Gross: $18,089
(USA)
(29 March 2009)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Lindsay Lohan was originally attached to play the role of Caitlin, but dropped out shortly before filming began.
Goofs:
Anachronisms:
The air war scenes outside (as opposed to the opening film scenes in the Underground) purport to show London being bombed during the Blitz. The scenes actually were other film footage as Germany used no four motor bombers during the Blitz. The scenes were actually of Allied B-17s bombing Dresden, Germany at the war's end.
Quotes: Vera Phillips:
You don't even see me, do you? Dylan! All you've got is stories in your head. Words. And I have to feel real. William... makes me real.
User Review
Not a bad film. Just one that could have been better
Rating: 6/10
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.
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