DVD Reviews

The Edge of Love

• Rating:
• Director: John Maybury
• Starring: Cillian Murphy
• Details: UK / 110mins (15A).

Set during The Blitz, The Edge Of Love concerns itself with writer Dylan Thomas (Rhys) and his love of two women - his Irish wife Caitlin (Miller) and sultry singer Vera (Knightley). Thomas is a bounder, a drunk whose leering eye falls on the nearest woman and stays there; Caitlin, who wouldn't be the most monogamous of people either, turns a blind eye to her husband's indiscretions but knows there's more than just sexual attraction between childhood sweethearts Thomas and Vera. Much to Thomas's chagrin, Vera marries soldier William Killick (Murphy) but when he's posted abroad the three move to Wales to get away from the war. This wasn't the greatest idea they ever had as the three live in close quarters and the sexual tension mounts.. The Edge Of Love might have worked if director Maybury got the tone right, but everything is far too inconsistent - from Miller's accent (which veers from Cockney to Irish and back again) to characterisation (some characters' actions don't ring true) to Maybury's inability to decide whose story this actually is. Sharman MacDonald's debut script makes a few surprising mistakes: because it might take a few days to write a few scenes, MacDonald forgets that this might be just a couple of seconds on screen and so the audience is constantly reminded what the situation is. On the plus side, Knightley does the best she can with Vera while Murphy, although underused, is probably the best performance on show.

Review by Gavin Burke