Mar 12, 2009 4:50 pm US/Central
'The Edge of Love'
Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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"The Edge of Love" features a foursome of actors -- Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy -- who are clearly up for more vibrant, daring material. (File)
theedgeoflove.co.uk
Somewhere, buried deep down, there are probably some real emotions and honest moments to be had here.
They're hard to find, though, smothered beneath self-aware, hyperstylized visuals and corny, old-fashioned melodrama. Pity, too. "The Edge of Love" features a foursome of actors -- Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy -- who are clearly up for more vibrant, daring material.
And the potential was inherently there: Supposedly inspired by true events during World War II, "The Edge of Love" follows the toxic, codependent relationship between Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Rhys); his wife, Caitlin (Miller); his childhood girlfriend, Vera (Knightley); and her eventual husband, William (Murphy).
The couples get thrown together in London during the Blitz of 1940. Dylan is reluctantly writing propaganda films and Vera is singing for the huddled masses in underground shelters when the two reconnect years after growing up together in Swansea.
Their obvious flirtation gets cut short when Dylan's volatile, alcoholic and wildly needy wife shows up. But her presence provides a spark in this otherwise self-serious film from director John Maybury ("The Jacket"), and Miller's unpredictable performance adds an element of danger.
The dynamic between Caitlin and Vera is intriguing -- it's infused with a jealousy and a curiosity that borders on sexual tension, but ultimately evolves into a deep friendship as the two women figure out how to share this brilliant but incorrigibly unfaithful man in the middle.
Not rated but contains sexual situations, graphic violence, language and mature themes.
111 min. Two stars out of four.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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