Review of The Edge of Love (2008) by Julia S — 02 Feb 2009

This was ok,I was interested enough to watch all the way through, but left me feeling a bit short-changed at the end. The cover and blurb might mean that you would expect a sweet wartime romantic film about enduring love through meaningless war, or something, but it surprised me in a number of ways. I found myself unable to empathise with any of the characters, particularly those that had the most screentime - that is Dylan, Cat, and Vera. The women seem to openly compete for Cat's husband, Dylan's, attention, which I found odd and unrealistic. However, it is the love between the two women that this film is really about. They have an intimate relationship despite, or perhaps because of their rivalry, and they are close in both their experiences and physically on screen - I suppose Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly sharing a bath was always going to be a winner.

I won't go into the plot because it wasn't as important to me as the overall atmosphere of the film - which is quite hopeless and pessimistic. There are the awful war-scenes, which Vera's husband is involved in, and was the only person I really felt for.

Overall quite a sad empty film, as the state of the most believable and genuine relationship between the women is left unknown - they part and it isn't clear if they'll keep in touch. It kept me watching but I don't think I would watch it again.