The Edge of Love- Blu Ray Review

The Film:

Attention: cheating husbands and boyfriends. When confronted about your philandering, here is the perfect rebuttal – “I do it because I’m a poet, and poets feed off of life!”

Unfortunately, not all of the dialogue in The Edge of Love is quite as unintentionally hilarious. In fact, most of it is that syrupy sham that we hear in every other romantic drama, lines like: “You have all my words and every heartbeat”. I’m typically a sucker for this sort of overbearing melodrama, but really? That’s the best there is to offer in a film about one of Britain’s most prolific poets?

The silly dialogue is no match for the art direction, however. Not only are we taken through a lighting course at a film school, we are greeted with iris’, kaleidoscope vision, eyes that appear in windows, dozens of sparkles on Keira Knightley’s teeth, and, of course, the exaggerated post-production saturation of reds. The tag line should be “You want red lips? We’ll give you the shit out of some red lips”.

In a film so concerned with such superficial matters, it’s easy to overlook the plot. It concerns Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), a poet in 1940′s London who avoided military duty by applying his craft to propaganda. One night, at a cabaret, he is reacquainted with a former lover, Vera (Keira Knightley). Dylan introduces Vera to his wife, Caitlin (Sienna Miller), and meanwhile a handsome soldier, William Killick (Cillian Murphy) wins over Vera. Vera and Caitlin forge an unlikely friendship, and while Vera nurses her child, William goes off to fight in Greece. Needless to say, it’s not all smooth sailing in this menage a quatre, and jealousy begins to run rampant.

What’s remarkable about these characters is how unpleasant they all are. In an effort to give us three-dimensional characters with human flaws, they instead all turn into these selfish louts that we cannot possibly care about. The last half hour drastically takes the film in a new direction, but the problem is that we don’t believe the “incident” that caused such turmoil, nor do we forgive the culprit, nor do we believe the rest of the characters would react in the manner they did. In fact, searching for a genuine moment in this film is quite the task.

Perhaps I’m being too hard. The performances are all quite good, particularly Sienna Miller who proves her worth as an actress beyond tabloid fodder. Kiera Knightley is also lovely once again, and I’m now so accustomed to seeing her elegant beauty in these period pieces that I cannot fathom seeing her don a pair of blue jeans. She brings life to each one of these movies, however, with this being perhaps one of her most mature performances yet.

Unfortunately, beyond the performances it’s a mostly unpleasant experience. The digital effects make much of the film look cheap, and the dialogue is completely unnatural and pretentious. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s a completely disposable drama that puts more effort into it’s style than it’s substance.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: A film so desperately stylish better look good on Blu-ray, and it certainly does. Despite some of the unnecessary post-production effects that make everything look a bit cheap and dingy, much of the film is a feast for the eyes. I cannot question director Maybury’s eye for composition. The audio track is impressive as well, with the loud war scenes certainly leaving the biggest and most lasting impact.

Audio Commentary: The commentary track is done by director John Maybury and actor Matthew Rhys, and it’s the best thing about the disc. They’re two friends just having a blast poking fun at themselves. Maybury jokes that the film is a low-budget remake of Atonement, and Rhys audibly drinks alcohol throughout the entirety of the track.

Looking over The Edge of Love: This runs about ten minutes, and it reminded me of those extended trailers on HBO that are shown in between movies. The actors all explain what drew them to the parts, but it’s unfortunately kept short. It’s a decent promotional tool, but it doesn’t give you much to consider after seeing the film.

Gag Reel: Because what is a WWII melodrama without a gag reel?

The disc also contains the theatrical trailer.

Conclusion: A blind buy should certainly be out of the question, however some people may deem it worthy of a rental. Despite my gripes with the art direction and the script, I was mildly entertained by the acting and it unquestionably is an impressive looking film. I wouldn’t recommend it, however Knightley and Miller definitely keep the film from being insufferable.

The Film: Rating:
The Blu Ray: Rating:

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