The Edge of Love (2008)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Maybury

Writer:

Sharman Macdonald (written by)

Release Date:

20 June 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Wife. Husband. Friend. Lover.

Plot:

Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.

Plot Keywords:

Blitz | Unrequited Love | Pregnancy | WWII | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Simon Armstrong	...	Wilfred Hosgood
Ben Batt	...	Sergeant
Geoffrey Beevers	...	Registrar
Rachel Bell	...	Midwife
Paul Brooke	...	Mr. Justice Singleton
Huw Ceredig	...	John Patrick
Richard Clifford	...	Alistair Graham
Richard Dillane	...	Lt Col David Talbot Rice
Joel Dommett	...	Train Soldier
Rachel Essex	...	Mel
Craig Gallivan	...	Sailor Beating Dylan
Callum Godfrey	...	Boy on Train
Karl Johnson	...	Dai Fred
Simon Kassianides	...	Partisan
Keira Knightley	...	Vera Phillips
Anne Lambton	...	Anita Shenkin
Raymond Llewellyn	...	Dewi Ianthe
Alastair Mackenzie	...	Anthony Devas
Neville Malcolm	...	Big Joe
Graham 'Suggs' McPherson	...	The Crooner
Sienna Miller	...	Caitlin MacNamara
Cillian Murphy	...	William Killick
Anthony O'Donnell	...	Jack Lloyd
Kent Olesen	...	Soldier
Jonathan Phillips	...	John Eldridge
Kyle Redmond-Jones	...	Boy Soldier
Matthew Rhys	...	Dylan Thomas
Jenny Runacre	...	Woman in Yellow Dress
Camilla Rutherford	...	Nicolette
Lisa Stansfield	...	Ruth Williams
Nick Stringer	...	PC Williams

Also Known As:

The Best Time of Our Lives (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Aldwych Underground Station, Aldwych, Holborn, London, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

Sharman Macdonald wrote the role of Caitlin with Keira Knightley in mind, but Keira chose to play Vera instead.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Uned 5: (2008-06-20)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Drifting and Dreaming

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

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.