Film and TV

New DVD: The Edge of love

By Anna Roberts
October 15, 2008

The Edge of Love (15) Lions Gate Home Entertainment, £19.99 stars Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys

In Atonement Keira Knightley proved she was more than a pouting sylph with good hair and a pretty face.

Clearly she had found her genre – good British films, often based on well-respected books by critically acclaimed authors.

In The Edge of Love – co-starring Sienna Miller – she takes this a step further and stars as the lover of Welsh bard Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys).

Knightley is Vera Phillips. As a teenager Vera and Dylan were absolutely and madly in love. However, they drifted apart and went their separate ways.

A decade on and the once love-struck pair meet up again in London. Feisty and fun, she is working as a singer while he is an employee of the Government, writing propaganda films.

The duo rekindle their romance and fall in love once again. But there is a problem: Dylan is married to feisty and beautiful Caitlin McNamara (Sienna Miller).

Caitlin, like Vera, is passionate and spirited. She indulges in her own illicit infidelities and accepts her husband as doing the same.

However, she knows his link to attractive Vera is something more than this. They adore each other and have a past – it is more than passion, it is a sort of love.

Vera, in a bid to stop this – she has struck up an unlikely friendship with Caitlin – marries her admirer William Killick (Cillian Murphy).

However, she cannot fight her devotion to Dylan. After William is posted abroad, a pregnant Vera returns to Wales with Caitlin and Dylan.

It is at this point – away from her husband and London life – the battle between her heart and head becomes more intense.

Despite her love of Caitlin, she realises she must choose between her husband, friend and true love.

William realises this and on his return – in a jealous rage – he attacks Dylan, forcing his wife to make her choice.

Set against the backdrop of war, The Edge of Love provides a look into London’s wartime underworld.

It is a tale of love, but also of friendship. As Caitlin and Vera’s lives become more entwined – connected by Dylan – they experience feelings of guilt, betrayal and love.

There is a question mark how little The Edge of Love has to do with Dylan’s poetry. However, the film – set in Wales and London – is beautifully shot.

Knightley and Miller, probably Britain’s ‘hottest’ two young actresses of the moment, make a nice pairing. Critically Miller – who is alleged to have formed a relationship with Rhys – out performs Knightley.

The Edge of Love is no match for Atonement. However, it is a step in the right direction for Miller and Knightley in their respective quests to become ‘serious’ actresses. Nevertheless, the likes of Judi Dench and Helen Mirren need not fear retiring just yet.

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TBH if youre having a real life relationship with the leading man its not acting at all, its not difficult to out perform your co star who has to act from scratch.