The Edge of Love

Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): **½

Given The Edge of Love is both a biopic of a famous writer and a film about the horrors of war, it's a wonder that the combo wasn't automatically showered with prizes. But instead it arrives here without much fanfare, after a quiet run in England, and too late for awards season. The Edge of Love tells the story of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). His wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller) and his childhood sweetheart Vera (Keira Knightley) meet up during the Blitz of 1940 and become best friends. Dylan flirts with Vera, but she falls in love with a soldier, William (Cillian Murphy), who of course is just about to be shipped out to war and of course leaves her pregnant. In-between, Dylan tries to write, reads poetry, acts outrageously, drinks and argues with his employers, while the others smoke and lay about in shirtsleeves and bathrobes. Later, we're privy to a lot of fighting and yelling, and when William returns from the front, some shooting as well.

Director John Maybury (Love Is the Devil, The Jacket) tries hard to film this routine material with some cinematic flourish; he very often creates a kind of odd, out-of-body feel, as in Knightley's nightclub singing sequences, coaxing and cooing and gazing directly at the camera.

But the material is already too familiar and too grounding; it has a very grayish, interior feel, sometimes even lethargic, and even Maybury seems to lose his way. Moreover, no one seems to know what the movie is about; is it about the friendship, Thomas's life and women, or the war? In hindsight, it's not Thomas or the war, but the women who are most luminous and interesting. Miller (Factory Girl) really steps up for her role; she puts on a happy façade suitable for the wife of a poet, but this life has really left her run-down and worn out. The real star, Knightley, with her little Welsh accent, looks lovelier here than she has in a long while (it's a far more interesting role than The Duchess), but she's not enough to sell this thin material.

The 2009 DVD from Image Entertainment comes with a not-bad commentary track by director Maybury and star Rhys, as well as a cute 10-minute behind-the-scenes feaurette and a 4-minute gag reel, mainly having to do with the 21st century stars and their troublesome cigarettes.