The Edge of Love

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

John Maybury

Production Companies

BBC Film

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The Edge of Love Audience Reviews

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
MBunge This film is about a portion of the life of famed English poet Dylan Thomas but, fortunately, it's not really about Thomas. This movie portrays him as a fairly contemptible twit who'd be worth nothing if he didn't have a way with words and if you've seen one tormented artist shaking his fist as the staid strictures of society, you've seen them all. No, The Edge of Love is about two women who orbited around Thomas for a time and they're both more fascinating and more inviting than he could ever be.During the Blitz-era of World War II London, Thomas (Matthew Rhys) was enlisted by his government to write propaganda and in between his adolescent fits of rebellion, he runs into his childhood love. Vera Phillips (Kiera Knightly) was a singer, mostly as entertainment in the subway tunnels converted into bomb shelters under London. While Thomas makes it clear he'd like nothing better than to get Vera back in the sack, he's quickly joined in London by him impertinent wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller) as Vera is relentlessly pursued by a dogged young soldier named William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The Thomases wind up living with Vera, all three of them reveling in the emotional and sexual tangle as a shield against the weight of war as Vera refuses to open up her heart to William for fear of losing him on some faraway battlefield.But when William is called to duty in Greece, Vera marries him only to be left alone and pregnant with his child. Vera moves back to Wales with the Thomases coming along and they wind up living in side by side bungalows. But the threesome that was so sheltering in perilous London grows sickly and twisted in the safe harbor of the countryside. None of them can control themselves and when a shell shocked William returns home yet remains distant from Vera, an act of betrayal leads to an explosion of tragic grief and pain.This film is like a gourmet meal where the main course is the wonderful performances of Kiera Knightley and Sienna Miller with an appetizer of Matthew Rhys and the dessert of Cillian Murphy. It certainly helps that war torn England is an almost endlessly compelling backdrop, but these 4 actors are what fill you up. Rhys is the least of them but only because, with all respect to his performance and the famous man he portrays, we've seen this sort of character over and over again. It's the other three that really make The Edge of Love run. Knightley is superb as a young woman who finds her strength amidst falling Nazi bombs only to see it seep away when she leaves the life of an independent city girl for the supposedly more comforting role of a country wife and mother. This story is really about Vera and Knightley proves up to the task of bearing a greater burden than the others. Not that Miller doesn't carry her own weight and then some. Her Caitlain is a woman of mind and will to equal or surpass her husband, but without his talent and that is the tie that binds them together despite all their personal peccadilloes. The artist needs his true audience and the audience needs her true artist. Murphy also unexpectedly soars playing the most ordinary person of the three and the only one who goes through a truly extraordinary experience to come out changed on the other side. The soldier who could uncomfortably tolerate being the lesser man to Dylan Thomas in London comes back the husband and father who can no longer stand it.Now, as a piece of entertainment, The Edge of Love may start a bit slow and hang around a bit too long and it does a Shakespeare-In-Love-thing where it matches Thomas' poetry to events in his life, which you may find grating or endearing. But if you like skilled actors taking you on a tour of the troubled hearts and minds of people you wish you could've known…this is the movie for you.
lewiskendell I found The Edge of Love to be frightfully dull. Maybe it's just too high-brow for my unrefined tastes, but all the depressing poetry and endlessly repeated discussions had me constantly checking to see how much time was left before the movie came to a blessed end. Add all that to a plot that wanders without any clear goal and characters who failed to interest me in the slightest, and you have the perfect recipe for a movie that may not necessarily be bad...but it's certainly not for me. I only watched it because of Keira Knightley, and if I can manage to sit through something this boring for her, then I honestly think that I could watch her in anything. I suppose i can be grateful to The Edge of Love for showing me what a lovely singing voice she has, but that's all the praise that I can muster.As I said before, I'm not calling this a bad movie. There could well be an audience who would love this tale of vaguely confused and self-involved people during World War II. I am most definitely NOT a member of that audience, though, and after struggling through to the meaningless ending while forcing myself to keep my eyes open, my happiest thought is that I'll never have to watch it again.
simon-brittan This is probably the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to see. There is no discernible plot, the script might have been written by a twelve-year-old, and the acting is deplorable. Above all, it seems to have nothing to do with either Dylan or Caitlin Thomas. This film buys into all the clichés about the Thomas' life together, and gives those viewers unfamiliar with the facts a picture that bears as good as no resemblance to the truth. The pretentiousness of this film is nauseating; I can only assume that none of the actors or actresses had ever read anything of Dylan or Caitlin Thomas. had they bothered to do so, they might have spotted the misquoted lines of Thomas' poetry that are scattered throughout the 'dialogue' at the most inopportune moments. this picture is deplorable. Miss it.
TxMike Dylan Thomas was a poet from Wales. I had heard of him, but knew nothing of him, nor his work. That he died, at age 39 while on a USA tour, was a surprise. In general I have a very low opinion of poets who simply view their vocation in life as a poet. So to me Dylan Thomas was not a productive member of society. When I was 20 and in college 43 years ago I wrote this poem, and it sums up my feeling:"To write a poem is hard indeed, agreed? <> To think great thoughts, a might task, <> So why should I presume to ask, <> Simple folk my simple poem to read?"But all that aside, I enjoyed this movie. The three main actors created interesting roles. The movie is based on real people, but I gather that most of the situations and dialog are fictional.Keira Knightley is Vera Phillips, friends with Dylan Thomas from their youth. Even though he eventually marries someone else, he never seems to lose his fascination with Vera, who aspires to be a professional singer.The movie is set during the war in the 1940s and some scenes are of Vera singing to huddled Londoners seeking shelter in the tunnels below the city. To her credit Knightly does all her own singing. Matthew Rhys is Dylan Thomas and Sienna Miller is his wife Caitlin MacNamara.