The Heart of Me (2004)

Brilliant and touching

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Beginning in pre-WW2 London the story, based on Rosamund Lehmann's novel 'The Echoing Grove', concerns two sisters - Madeleine (Olivia Williams) and Dinah (Helena Bonham Carter) - who love the same man - Ricky (Paul Bettany). The story is told in flashbacks as the sisters meet for lunch post-WW2. Ricky is married to Madeleine and they have one son when he and Dinah fall in love and begin a torrid and emotional affair. When Madeleine discovers their affair, Ricky leaves her for Dinah but the result of a chronic illness intervenes and fate returns Ricky to Madeleine. Such are the vagaries of fate and circumstance that Ricky is never reunited with Dinah though he loves her until his untimely death. Instead he remains with Madeleine with whom he has another child, a daughter. Many years later the sisters meet for lunch and the events surrounding the affair form their conversation.All the leads are excellent: Williams has the most difficult role as her character is emotionally cold and the least sympathetic. She never flinches from portraying a woman who, in spite of her achievements in life, is threatened by her younger and more lively sister, who we learn was favoured by their father and this leaves its lasting effects upon Madeleine. Bonham Carter is in her element as a socially rebellious and artistic outsider in staid middle class society. Bettany is superb as the well behaved gentleman prepared to lose all for a love that would scandalise his society. His love for Dinah aches and proves his unwitting end.A very emotional and beautiful film cut through with tragedy, misunderstandings and missed moments. I defy anyone to watch this without a lump in their throat, at the least. The notion of touching and then losing true love in life is poignant and something that will be relevant to many.

Set in England during the 1930's The Heart of Me tells the story of two sisters Dinah(Helena Bonham Carter)and Madeleine(Olivia Williams).They both fall in love with the same man Rickie(Paul Bettany).However in terms of marriage only one can really have him.One marries Rickie and the other begins a passionate affair with him.This is a moving and gorgeous film.The costumes are beautiful and the performances are really good especially from the three leads.Helena is one of my favourite actresses and she doesn't disappoint here in her role as Dinah.A well made romance that looks good visually as well.Worth renting or buying on DVD.

I am not sure what the purpose of this film, The Heart Of Me, a remade The Wings Of The Dove also starring Helena Bonham Carter is but it is pale in comparison however more true to life it could be. Where Wings is heart wrenching Heart is shocking and maybe just a romantic vehicle for Paul Bettany to inspire all possible fans. The Heart Of Me and The Wings Of The Dove are kind of like the double play of Dangerous Liaisons, which I prefer, to Valmont. However if you like romantic tragedy or character weakness with listen dialog The Heart of Me is quite possible for you. Helena Bonham Carter normally a fairly good actress in these period pieces seems absolutely lost and not sure what her character is to accomplish and she comes across that way, unsympathetic where in Wings on course she has the part in her hands. Olivia Williams new to me acquits herself well but still Paul Bettany seems to be the target or missing portion of The Heart Of Me not sure his character is growing or coming out of hiding. Therefore my conclusion is Bettany vehicle not near as good as Linus Roache vehicle, The Wings Of The Dove. Still worth a look for shock value and character assessment.

I wonder of some of the other reviewers and I saw the same film. While this film had great visual beauty it was slow as molasses. That isn't always bad if one feels involved in what is going on on screen but that was not the case here. It seems that many reviewers blame Paul Bettany's character's weak will and Bonham Carter's character's lack of moral compass for their affair. I don't think this is the case. For one thing I have never known love to be something one can feel or not feel at will. For another, Olivia Williams' Madeleine seems to have lost her passion for her husband at least by the time the affair is revealed to the audience. Did anyone not notice her (literally) turning a cold shoulder when her husband comes to kiss her at her dressing table? Did anyone notice the challenge in Bettany's voice when, after the affair is discovered, he kisses Williams and tells her that this is what she has coming back to her revealing the lovelessness (at least physically speaking) that would likely have doomed their marriage regardless of outside influence?Carter does not, for me, possess the kind of fatal beauty that would make her character irresistible to a happily married man and I don't think the film intends for us to feel that way about her. Williams is much more classically beautiful and if the sister character (Carter) had been supposed to be a femme fatale then the roles of sister and wife would have been better switched. It was love that brought the husband and sister together not just a submission to passion by two morally weak characters. Yes, something can be said about the sister allowing herself to be in such a position. She might have decided that, love notwithstanding, the great wrong was not necessarily being with a married man but being unfaithful to her own sister. Still, it seems clear that the marriage was an empty one anyway with only the couples' love for their doomed son giving them much reason to continue the charade. Remember too, that their daughter was the product of angry assault and not the result of a resumption of regular marital relations.With all that juicy plot substance going for it I still think the film was a dismal failure. Very little exploration of Bettany and Carter's life together and despite the fact that the war plays a big part in Bettany's character's demise there was very little sense of the times for the part of the film that takes place before and during the war. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone except hard core fans of the leads (and Eleanor Bron who was so great in "Help)and as a chance to see more of Olivia Williams who deserves better than the clunkers ("Born Romantic","The Postman","To Kill A King") she's appeared in. Of course, she has also done episodes of "Van der Valk" which I would love to see but which, it seems, will never come out on video or DVD.