The Edge of Love

This is a classic example of how bad I was at watching/rating movies last year. When I first watched The Edge of Love I rated it 8/10. I must have been sleeping and dreaming of a movie that actually happened to be Atonement or something. So then I get the movie out again, just because Cillian Murphy is in it, and I suddenly realize: this movie is crap. Absolutely crap.

In the depths of World War II, we are introduced to two feisty and free-spirited women: singer Vera (Keira Knightley) and reluctant housewife and mother Caitlin (Sienna Miller). These two women are connected not only by friendship but by the poet, Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) who loves them both, though he is married to Caitlin, and Vera is married to a loyal but violent William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The War tears them apart, and they must find a way of picking up the pieces and try to return to the way things were.So we all know that Keira Knightley has starred in a lot of period films, and this film seems below par compared with the rest of them. She does, however, turn out a good performance, as do most of the rest of the cast. However, the good performances, even though they try their best, just can't cover up the truck loads of flaws this film drags along.

I know that this is some sort of biopic, so most of what happened was based on a true story, but this story was filled with plot holes and to be honest, I didn't like any of the characters. Vera was a whiny self-pitying loser who kept turning down the opportunity to get in with Cillian Murphy (okay, so I wouldn't do that, and that isn't exactly Cillian in the movie...but I hate her for it anyway). Caitlin is just downright annoying because she just doesn't care for the world enough but all of sudden turns over a new leaf and somehow realizes that life is more than she wanted it to be. Dylan was just a smoking and talentless bum for most of the movie that fit right into the stereotype of 'drunken writer'. As for William, I wouldn't have liked him is he wasn't Cillian Murphy, but he was extremely lovely if not a little stalkerish in the start, then in the second half of the film he was violent and reminded me of a confused little kid.

The characters let the film down big time, and I blame that on the extremely weak script which never quite depicts the brutality of War like a real War movie should. It's pretty much a cheap rehash of Atonement, but it just isn't as good. However, I could be quite interested in the real story of the Thomas' and the Killick's, because I believe their story is possibly more interesting than the way this film makes it out to be.

Film is letdown by characters, characters letdown by scriptwork. The film is lifted though by some solid performances.

4/10