Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8387 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Synopsis
In Thaddeus O'Sullivan's THE HEART OF ME, Madeleine (Olivia Williams) and Dinah (Helena Bonham Carter) are sisters with little in common except for their bloodlines and the man that they both love. Madeleine and her husband, Rickie (Paul Bettany) appear to be the perfect couple. They have an exquisite home, a loving son, and are obviously well bred and well off. When Madeleine's bohemian sister, Dinah, returns to pre-World War II London for their father's funeral, she finds herself drawn to her brother-in-law. The attraction is mutual, and while Madeleine tries to marry her sister off to a fine gentleman, Dinah and Rickie begin a torrid love affair with heartbreaking consequences. The costumes and sets of the film evoke both the grandeur of London society in the 1930s and the war-ravaged city it became in the 1940s. Bonham Carter brings a childlike wonder to Dinah, a free spirit with unbridled passion for life. Williams' Madeleine, meanwhile, is almost bittersweet; she seems to envy Dinah's freedom, yet would never let down her own guard or upset her pristine world. As Rickie, Bettany is a perfect British gentleman who suddenly finds himself a bundle of raw emotion.

From the Back Cover
After the death of their father, Madeline (Olivia Williams, The Sixth Sense) invites her sister, Dinah (Academy Award nominee Helena Bonham-Carter, The Wings of the Dove) to stay in her elegant London home. Efforts to find a husband for the free-spirited Dinah seems to pay off at last when her engagement is announced. However, Dinah is secretly told by her sister’s charming husband, Rickie (Paul Bettany, A Beautiful Mind) to call it off. So begins a wild affair, as Rickie and Dinah’s illicit passion spirals into deception, offering escapism and despair and an insight into the heart’s capacity for forgiveness.

Customer Reviews

It Broke The Heart Of Me
A profoundly moving film, brilliantly acted and wonderfully made.

A tale of families, friendships, love and betrayal, all bound together by human frailty, both physical and emotional. A film about infidelity that seeks not to excuse or judge, but lays bare human weakness and allows us to make up our own minds. Helena Bonham Carter looks stunning and gives the performance of her career as a free spirit with a fragile psyche. When it ended, I felt like my heart had been ripped out and broken in two in front of me.

Criminally overlooked - this should be on a permanent loop in every multiplex in the land.

Wonderful realisation of Rosamond Lehmann novel
Adapted from Lehmann's novel "The Echoing Grove" this is everything a fan of the writer could wish for. That particular quality of bittersweet angst she brings to her characters is beautifully captured by the screen play and acting.

Rickie (Paul Bettany) an upper crust lawyer is the pivot of a love triangle between his cool but loyal wife Madeleine (Olivia Williams) and her sister the somewhat bohemian Dinah (Helena Bonham Carter).

Bettany negotiates a difficult role brilliantly portraying the inner anguish behind the stiff upper lip exterior. Carter and Williams fit their roles like a glove and sparkle in their interactions. There is no doubt who Rickie really loves, but I found myself rather on the side of his cool wife than her sister.

Excellent sets, acting and a fine score of the sobbing strings variety that gel so well with Lehmann's tales of tortured love.

Better than you'd think
This was a very good film. I wasn't expecting much as the description on the box was only okay, but it was excellent; all the characters came across as weak in their own way.

Paul Bettany's character, Rickie, was both pathetic and sympathetic as a man who could not stand up to his wife but neither could he turn away from the other woman he loved (who just happened to be her sister).

Helena Bonham Carter once again delivers the goods as Dinah, Rickie's sister in law, and the one you feel he truly cares anything about. However, she comes across as selfish; and by the end of the film you feel that the characters just dissolve into their own bits of self interest (think of a 1920's version of 'Closer' - selfish people living their selfish lives).

You don't even have any sympathy for Rickie's cuckolded wife Madeleine; she is so stuffy and emotionally cold, that in some ways you can hardly blame him for seeking the warmth of her warmer and more free spirited sister.

However, those nitpicks aside this is a lovely film and well worth a look one rainy afternoon.