What is The Edge of Love About?

The Edge of Love is a period drama that was released in 2008. The movie boasts of an impressive star cast with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller taking the lead while Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy providing fitting counterpoints. In simple words, the Edge of Love is a period drama which can also be described as a mood movie because it builds up on human interaction more than the plot.

This is a movie which is based on the life of Dylan Thomas with the plot inspired by the book, 'Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow'. On the whole, the Edge of Love has its good points and bad points, which means that the quality of the movie is very subjective.

In fact, the Edge of Love is a tale of two halves with each being distinctly different. The first half of the movie follows the philandering and vice friendly Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) through London during World War II. Keira Knightley, playing Vera Phillips, runs into Thomas, who also happens to be the man she first fell in love with in her youth. Incidentally, one of the highpoints of the movie is Keira Knightley singing.

As Phillips and Thomas meet, their young love is rekindled amongst shining eyes and intense expressions despite of Thomas being already married. He introduces Phillips to his wife Caitlin Macnamara, played by Sienna Miller, all the while wooing her. Macnamara is a spirited and feisty woman who instantly judges Phillips to be a rival. However, over time, the two women become close friends, which allows them and Thomas to spend time together in a bohemian lifestyle through war torn London.

During this time, Phillips is pursued and wooed by a British soldier called William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The two fall in love and get married. They even have a baby while Killick gets his posting and moves away. Phillips and the Thomas family move to a Welsh coastal town and live in adjacent cottages.

Even so, Thomas finally manages to woo Phillips into an affair. Subsequently, Killick returns from the war emotionally scarred and distant. Not surprisingly, he suspects his wife of having an affair with Thomas. Resultantly, after heavy drinking one night, Killick, in a fit of rage, fires off numerous shots into the Thomas home but does not hurt anyone.

The police arrest Killick and, during the trial, Thomas endeavours to muddy the truth by claiming that Killick was not only sober but also intended to kill everyone in his house. However, Killick is adjudged innocent by the jury and comes home to become a model father and husband. A little later, the Thomas family decides to move away but before leaving Phillips and Macnamara restore their relationship. Phillips never speaks to Thomas again.

The biggest problem with the Edge of Love is that it follows one year after the multiple awards winning film Atonement which was also a period drama, also boasted of Keira Knightley in the lead, and was also a love found-love lost movie. As a result, this movie is invariably compared to Atonement and when it pales in comparison is talked down.