The Heart of Me

This exquisitely crafted film is much better than what we have heard it was. The film has an incredible texture, but of course, it's not for everyone. Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan presents this story of love and betrayal with a style that is surprising. The material in which this film is based is the novel by Rosamond Lehmann, that shows a slice of the life in London among the upper classes in the 30s, prior to WWII and adapted for the screen by Lucinda Coxon.

The story of this love triangle involves Madeleine, a young society matron, married to Rickie, a successful bank executive. They entertain lavishly; it's obvious they know the right people, as it shows in their lavish parties. Dinah, Madeleine's sister is a loose cannon. She is a young woman who couldn't care less about being int the right places, or to mix with the right crowd.

Dinah and Rickie begin an affair. Rickie agonizes about the situation and how to handle it. Madeleine never gets a hint until Rickie reveals his intention of leaving her. Madeleine, without Rickie will lose it all, her status in society and all the other little perks. But she is not prepared to accept the idea that Dinah is the one who has lured Rickie away from her. The relationship among the three principals will never be the same.

Helena Bonham Carter plays Dinah with abandon. She's a no nonsense actress and she clearly gets into her character's skin. Olivia Williams is a staid and shocked Madeleine. Ms Williams is a beauty that epitomizes the type of English society woman naturally. Paul Bettany is convincing as Rickie, the man torn between love and duty. Eleanor Bron makes an excellent Mrs. Burkett.

The soul of this film is in the empathy, or it would be easy to judge. Men tend to marry women who think like themselves, but there is that darker side, different from themselves, that some men cannot resist. In the usual case, at least as far as movie plots are concerned, his darker side will drive him to find some lover that is everything that he is not. If he is obsessive, she will be moody and impulsive, otherwise she will be the Eros to his Thanatos. The wife and the lover seldom know each other. In this case, however, he finds both of these women as sisters, adding incest to the convoluted plot. The one he marries is structured like himself, but then he falls in love, or lust, with the other, a neurotic Bohemian whose child-like passions rob him of reason.

There is a fatalistic element to this plot, however. All three characters, while seemingly driven by their feelings, are actually so out of touch with their feelings that they act without reason. We say that it is their "feelings" that are driving their actions, when in fact it is their lack of "reason" that is driving their actions. They are just letting themselves feel without thinking, as though it was "fate" that made such decisions. They can't help themselves. Fate has determined that he will marry the wrong sister, and fate has determined that he will become hopelessly obsessed by the other. What is left for the audience, therefore, is to empathize with their dilemma as presented, and agree without doubt that where matters of love are concerned, there is no room for reason.

What a pessimistic and lugubrious theme! Feelings, passions and emotions, are wonderful and inspiring forces, that can drive us to the heights of ambition, or drag us down to depression, bigotry and resentment. Unless measured by reason they are worthless and potentially harmful. It is "reason" that makes feelings supreme, not just feelings alone. Wallowing in passion without reason only results in self-indulgence and destruction, as evidenced by this film. The events of this story did not "just happen" to these characters as though by fate. Not only is there "room" for reason in matters where love is concerned, but without it love becomes a trap, a disease, and a tragedy. What is missing from this story is not love, but reason.

I've heard that Western religious dogma eschews the thought never mind the act of a man lusting for his neighbor's wife. What really rocks the boat is a married man sappily and hopelessly enmeshed in the arms of his wife's sister. And that's what we have in this dark hued English drama whose scenes alternate between the pre-war social frivolity of affluent men and women unaware that their time was almost up and postwar scenes tieing the story together.

Helena Bonham Carter is Dinah, a free spirit given to studying, and perhaps evangelizing, the gospel of malcontents and revolutionaries in that nonthreatening and oddly endearing manner that insures both bemusement and acceptance by well-to-do English gentlefolk. Olivia Williams is her married sister, Madeleine, a hostess with the mostess, married to businessman Rickie, played by Paul Bettany.

The focus of the film is on this trio, not a menage a trois but a coruscating set of characters wracked by love, lust and confusion leavened by sporadic betrayal and reconciliation.

It's really simple: Rickie sort of loves or at least very much likes Madeleine but his heart and other body parts desperately seek and need Dinah. Dinah loves her sister and her charming adolescent son but she must have Rickie. Madeleine loves both but is blind to the reality of their relationship until... A story of this genre must have a clear and unambiguous "until."

Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, the acting of the three principals is, simply, mesmerizingly superb. Helena Bonham Carter is renowned for her period pieces (she can do much more and she does) and she fits into London's prewar world and its gray aftermath as if she actually experienced those times. Paul Bettany captures the lost male guided by his...ah, lust, with but minimal if any moral insight into his conduct. Special mention must be made of Olivia Williams who captures the pathos, hope and desperation of a decent woman swept up by acts of betrayal she never envisaged as possible. I hope we see much more of this fine actress.

The score by Nicholas Hooper is very good but judicious editing was needed to reduce intrusiveness of the music and the sound level ought to have been lowered for a number of scenes.

A fine production.

8/10.

this is the second time that i have seen this movie and it definitely lives up to repeated viewings. at heart the story maybe about an illicit affair of forbidden love, but in reality it seems much more. It lays bare the consequences of the worst betrayals of trust without apportioning blame. all three characters, Madeleine, Dinah and Ricky, are left unsatisfied and the pain that they feel makes the film challenging viewing - it is simply so sad. what i liked most about the story is its time frame, as we weave through fifteen odd years and see the story, or rather the affair through the different perspective of time - it is such a clever technique because our sympathies never rest- we switch allegiance constantly and recognise that for these three people there could be no happy resolution.

there is so much else to love about this film, i loved the way the large elegant house, appeared to take on the appearance of Madeleine's state of mind - all bright and happy in the beginning and then grey and sterile at the end.

the film does have a fault i would say, though. which is why i have given it 8. i do not like Helena Bonham carters performance. it was partly because both Olivia Williams and Paul Bettany gave such wonderful performances that hers appears forced and insincere. i think that we are meant to like Dinah and see her as colourful and vital - but i didn't believe in her portrayal. she is remarkable at expressing anguish and truly has a beautiful voice when reciting Blake, but i found her garish costumes and brazen comments, unconvincing and unnatural. she grated on me because i really needed to believe that this woman was worthy of Ricky's obsessional love and i didn't. having said that i still recommend this movie, if only really because of its deep and intelligent exploration of the different types of love.

A movie full of dramatic irony and beauty. I love Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany. On screen, the characters are so believable that I forget that I am watching a movie. I'm transported to this world of war and snobbery, kite flying and poetry. And every twist in the plot basically rips my heart out or sends it soaring. It's so different from any other romance film that I've ever seen. The premise is familiar, but it's beautifully done. Definitely worth seeing. Keep a box of tissues nearby. This movie made me want to read more William Blake. Watch it, and you'll see why. Seriously. It is a film that grips the heart, wraps up the senses, and causes emotions to boil. Despite the poetry in the film, it is mainly a movie of action, of eyes, beautiful, intense eyes. See this movie.