The Heart of Me

"The Heart of Me" is an excellent film in all respects except one. The pathos soaked story, which moves like a lavalamp, shows us nothing new and does it such a way we are not the least inclined to care. The film traces the life of two English sisters who have a man in common. One is his wife amd the other his mistress. A painfully tedious and stilted film which presents us with such a mawkish protag (Bettany) he can't pick one or the other or manage either much less both. Rather, he lets them manage him resulting in one really whipped dude and a whole lot of crying while we sit watching disconnected and detached. A melancholy affair, "The Heart of Me" is a very pretty flop. (C+)

`The Heart of Me' is pure, unadulterated soap opera redeemed by the kind of high-toned, stiff-upper-lip seriousness of which the British seem uniquely capable. Set primarily in the 1930's, the film tells the story of two sisters caught in a passionate and quasi-incestuous love triangle. Madeline (Olivia Williams), the older of the two, is an uptight woman whose weak-willed husband, Rickie (Paul Bettany), falls in love with her younger and more free-spirited sibling, Dinah (Helena Bonham Carter). These two in-laws, soul mates for life, carry on a torrid love affair until Madeline discovers the truth – and even for a time thereafter.

Given the material, `The Heart of Me' could easily have devolved into a cheap, sensationalistic melodrama for the `Masterpiece Theatre' set. Instead, thanks to truly brilliant performances by the three principal actors and an intelligent, thoughtful screenplay, the film becomes a wholly absorbing drama that offers profound insights into the realities of the human heart. The pain each of these people experiences is so palpable in its intensity that it washes away all traces of artificiality and contrivance. The film becomes a fascinating study of what happens when clanging passions are hemmed in by the restrictions and proprieties of a strict, morally repressive upper class society. Rickie and Dinah choose to turn themselves into social pariahs, then must face the consequences of their convention-defying actions. Of most interest is the emotionally complex relationship between the two very different sisters. What makes the film special is the way in which it allows the seemingly cold-hearted Madeline to become as much a sympathetic figure as the two impassioned lovers. Thanks to Williams' impeccable performance (she played Penelope in the TV movie version of `The Odyssey'), Madeline is allowed to live and breathe and have her own say, making her, in many ways, the most intriguing of the three main characters.

`The Heart of Me,' which is beautifully detailed in costumes and settings, transcends the limits of its genre to deliver a heartbreaking tale of love, loss, lament - and hope.

Watchable but unsatisfying period piece, mistakenly listed on Amazon Prime as a current film; actually it's from 2002. Based on novelist Rosamond Lehmann's The Echoing Grove, which in turn was based on Lehmann's nine-year affair with poet Cecil Day-Lewis (father of Daniel). IRL Day-Lewis dumped both Lehmann and his wife and took up with actress Jill Balcon (mother of Daniel), which might've made a more interesting movie.

On-the-nose casting of Olivia Williams as the straitlaced, conventional sister and Helena Bonham-Carter as the unstable, bohemian sister ensures the best possible outcome for the creaky plot. Nice to see Elinor Bron (Dudley's Moore's unrequited crush in the original Bedazzled) again as the sisters' interfering mother. Paul Bettany does his best with the thankless role of the sisters' wavering husband/lover; the fact that he's so easily bamboozled by his mother-in-law suggests that Lehmann came away from all this with a poor opinion of C. Day-Lewis, which certainly seems understandable.

I was fortunate enough to see this film at the Toronto Film Festival and talk briefly with the Director afterwards.

"The Heart of Me" is a period piece set in London during the 1930s and 40s. It is a European-style film that takes the time to give exposition and background to the characters. It builds slowly and chooses substance over style. The mood is somber and much of the lighting and colour scheme reflects this in a similar manner to the Crow.

It is a drama with a few moments of levity. The three main leads are excellent. Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams play sisters. Helena's character begins to fall in love with her brother-in-law played by Paul Bettany and they have an affair.

I was pleasantly surprised by Paul's acting. I've only seen him before in "A Knight's Tale" and "A Beautiful Mind" where he has played light-hearted best friend characters. His performance here was understated, subdued, and a change of pace from what I had previously seen. I didn't think he was capable of going head to head with Helena but he was.

If you like Merchant and Ivory films, then I think you would like this. It has the same feel as "Howard's End" and "Remains of the Day".

This film played to a packed audience at the closing night of the London Film Festival last week. The story of an upper class English man falling passionately in love with his wife's sister was so involving I completely forgot myself for the duration of the film (and from what I could see,so did the rest of the audience). It is a flawless film. Intensely moving. The complex characterisations were handled with immense integrity. One of the wonderful things about it was that during the course of the story I both liked and disliked all the characters. By the end it is impossible to judge them, only appreciate what they had gone through. A most wonderful and uplifting film. Paul Bettany is a discovery. An actor of immense subtlety who is not afraid to play a character who appears simply weak on the surface but is actually very complex. A very detailed and brave performance. Olivia Williams is transformed by the character. She plays Madeline, a woman who lives by the strict rules of her class. No emotion is allowed to get in the way of how this class organises their lives and Madeline respects that. When we see her years later in life, Williams makes us utterly believe the immense changes that she has endured. Madeline must forgive her sister Dinah for her betrayal. This seems impossible given what Madeline has endured at the hands of her sister, yet Williams makes us believe in that forgiveness. This was a great lesson to me. To see how you must move on in your life. Helena Bonham Carter is more vulnerable, sensitive and outrageous than I have ever seen her. Her character is on a knife edge. She falls passionately in love with her brother- in- law and from that moment on the film takes you on an emotional roller-coaster ride that I still can't get out of my mind. The film also has one of the best scores I've heard in ages - romantic and tuneful without being slushy or sentimental. It's also a ravishing looking film (maybe that's why I cant get it out of my mind) and yet the powerful images never interfere with the story but add to it all the time. Real cinema.