17/06/2008 THE EDGE OF LOVE Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley in bed together…that should be enough to send every babeluver in the universe heading hotfoot to the movies for an eyeful. I mean…Sienna Miller…and Keira Knightley…in bed…together. It takes some thinking about, doesn’t it?
Director John Maybury is certainly hit a winner with this movie set during World War 2 about the hard-drinking Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) and his wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller) who takes a shine to his former lover Vera (Keira Knightley). You can’t blame Dylan…both Sienna and Keira are looking as hot as ever and no hot-blooded man of my acquaintance (and believe me, babeluvers, I know plenty) wouldn’t be swayed by the idea of a cosy little threesome (though I should warn you that it is merely an idea and we don’t get to see any girl on girl action). Things take a darker turn when Vera marries a soldier (Cillian Murphy). All’s well and good while the soldier is away on the front line but it all gets a bit nasty when he returns to confront the unholy ménage a troi and, driven to distraction by the tension of war, it all kicks off.
It was originally titled The Best Time Of Our Lives with Lindsay Lohan cast as the poet’s wife but the filming in Wales probably interfered with a holiday in rehab or something and the older Sienna Miller was drafted in as a late replacement. It’s probably all for the best – Sienna has come on a bundle in recent films and is probably a more convincing foil to the firebrand Welsh character at the centre of events. Apart from the two seductive female leads, much of the film’s attraction is governed by the seedy atmosphere of the London underworld at its heart and the suppressed but passionate emotions tearing them apart. As such it’s a very sexy film, but a subtle one, and much of its drama lies in the unspoken dialogue beyond the script (written by Knightley’s mother Sharman Macdonald) and the perennial threat of sudden death that affects them all.
Sienna Miller’s Irish accent isn’t entirely convincing, but both she and Keira gel together better than any of us might have imagined and the exploration of a deep friendship forever teetering on the edge of something more sordid and ultimately devastating is brilliantly played by both of them. It’s a particularly charged performance by Keira, whose confusion of emotions in many ways set the film’s standard, complemented by assured performances by Rhys and Murphy. Must have been hard for them to concentrate with Keira and Sienna slipping in and out of period costume.
Surprise, surprise we also get to hear Keira sing. Quite beautifully, as it happens. A whole lot better, anyway, than Scarlett Johansson. Watch the Trailer Back to Cyn's Top Tips |
