The Heart of Me

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.

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".

"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 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.

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.