The Edge of Love

2009 "The only thing more dangerous than war... is love."
The Edge of Love
6.1| 1h50m| en| More Info
Released: 13 March 2009 Released
Producted By: BBC Film
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's childhood sweetheart Vera. Despite her joy at seeing Dylan after so many years, Vera is swept off her feet by a dashing officer, William Killick, and finds herself torn between the open adoration of her new found beau and the wily charms of the exotic Welshman.

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SnoopyStyle 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.
Rodrigo Amaro 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. PitifulIt'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
Saad Khan 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.
Samiam3 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 returnsAs 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.