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

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
emuir-1 The first meeting of Dylan and Caitlin was allegedly in a pub in 1936. She had already built up a notorious or legendary past depending on your viewpoint. At 15 the girlfriend of Caspar John until she was seduced by his father, the famous painter and scandalous Augustus John, and became his mistress. She had as they say, been around the block a few times a free spirited bohemian before her time. Eventually Thomas and John came to blows outside a public house and she moved on to Thomas and there began a 13-year drinking and public brawling session as the selfish and self-absorbed couple mooched off anyone they could find to support them and helping themselves to whatever took their fancy. Caitlin was a beauty, no doubt about it, and Sienna Miller does justice to her.SPOILER AHEAD The film concentrates on one fairly brief relationship, that of Dylan and Caitlin's friendship with Vera Killick, an old flame of Dylan's from Wales. They became quite close, living next door to each other in Wales. The fact that Vera was supporting them on her husband's army pay might have been the main reason for the closeness. All good things come to an end, and the soldier husband is shipped home with shell shock, only to find his wife the subject of local gossip and the paternity of her child in doubt. After finding that his wife had emptied his bank account supporting the Thomas's drinking sessions, he goes to the pub to find Dylan holding court with a bunch of effete pseudo intellectuals who are loudly voicing their uninformed opinion on who is really doing the fighting in Greece. A fight ensues after which he takes out his anger by shooting up Dylan's borrowed flimsy cottage, which must be the only building in Wales not to have solid stone walls. The friendship ends when Dylan accuses Cpt. Killick of attempted murder and he stands trial, but the local jury sympathizes with the wounded soldier coming home from the war to find his wife having an affair with a louche freeloader, a possibly illegitimate child, and using his army pay to support the freeloader and his family. He is therefore found not guilty.Perhaps one day we will get a film showing their 13 years together. This one was spoiled for me by Keira Knightley, one of those overrated actresses whose popularity totally baffles me, and her truly awful off key singing. Why could they not have dubbed her voice, or was Vera supposed to be a two bit singer.
joyfuljaymac Normally I'm not a big fan of Kiera knightly but I actually liked her performance in this movie.The Edge Of Love is loosely based on real events and people during World war 2. Knightly plays Vera Phillips, a singer whose feeling for her first love are rekindle when he turns up in London. Kiera knightly does all her own singing and I have to say she is quite good. She brings a certain quality to Vera as Vera doesn't seem like the boldest of girls but she knows what she wants and how to get it. Her welsh accent is amazing and never slips during her whole performance.Matthew Rhys plays her childhood sweetheart Dylan Thomas, who is welsh poet mainly producing them for propaganda films, which he wants to get out of. He is married to Caitlin Macnamara (Thomas) but over the course of the film you can see that he is still deeply in love with Vera and wants them to rekindle their flame. Rhys does a great job with Dylan as he dis a charming man and it's easy to see how Vera could fall for him. Again, the accent never slips and remains strong.Sienna Miller plays Caitlin Macnamara (Thomas) a free, spirited woman who does like a bit of a flirt even if it's in front of her husband. On meeting Vera, he isn't sure if she'll like her or not but the two end up being very close. Miller brings this free spirited character with her amazing performance, the only thing I would say would be that I don't know what accent she was suppose to have, as at one point in the film Dylan said 'she is the queen of Ireland' only I never really heard an Irish accent coming from her and it's never explained if she is Irish or not.Cillian Murphy plays William Killick , a solider who end up being smitten with Vera. You can see Vera likes him but he has to work hard in order to gain her attention. The two soon end up married and have a child together but he comes back from the army with PTSD and it soon changes everything. Murphy makes it impossible not to love this character. He's sweet, charming, funny, handsome and really wants the best for Vera. This man is what very woman wants.Overall, I loved the film. It was beautifully directed and written. A classic war-time tale of love, loss, happiness and tragedy. The music is so beautifully scored. A perfect film for a night in.
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.
dbborroughs 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.