The Heart of Me (2002)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Writers:

Rosamond Lehmann (novel)
Lucinda Coxon (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 May 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Every pleasure has a price...

Plot:

1930's London. Two sisters - Madeleine and Dinah - One marries Rickie, the other falls in love with him. He begins an affair which is to have repercussions throughout their lives.

Plot Keywords:

1930s | London | Painter | Hospital | Car Accident

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Helena Bonham Carter	...	Dinah
Olivia Williams	...	Madeleine
Paul Bettany	...	Rickie
Eleanor Bron	...	Mrs. Burkett
Luke Newberry	...	Anthony
Tom Ward	...	Jack
Gillian Hanna	...	Betty
Andrew Havill	...	Charles
Alison Reid	...	Bridie
Kathryn Tennant-Maw	...	Sylvia
Rebecca Charles	...	Miss Matthews
John Rowe	...	Drysdale
Shaughan Seymour	...	Jeweller
Simon Day	...	Hospital Doctor
Jenny Howe	...	Nurse

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Isle of Man

Company:

Martin Pope Productions

Trivia:

One of the cars used in this movie is a 1931 Austin 7 box saloon.

Quotes:

Dinah: And throughout all Eternity I forgive you, you forgive me

Soundtrack:

In the Bleak Midwinter

The BBC Agains Shows Why There'll Always be an England (on celluloid)

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.