The Heart of Me (2002)
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50% of critics liked it
(60 reviews) -
59% of users liked it
(1,934 ratings)
Upper crust England before, during, and after WWII provides the backdrop for THE HEART OF ME, a richly emotional drama about the seductive -- and destructive -- nature of passion. A classic romantic triangle, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams as sisters Dinah and Madeleine, and… More Upper crust England before, during, and after WWII provides the backdrop for THE HEART OF ME, a richly emotional drama about the seductive -- and destructive -- nature of passion. A classic romantic triangle, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams as sisters Dinah and Madeleine, and Paul Bettany as Rickie, Madeleine's husband, who finds himself drawn to his darkly beautiful, bohemian sister-in-law. Torn between two women, one who always plays by the rules and one who always breaks them, Rickie risks everything by falling into a clandestine affair with Dinah. What follows is more than a decade of deception, betrayal, and manipulation during which Rickie's carefully constructed world falls apart and he is all but destroyed by love. Over the years, the two sisters wage a fierce battle for his heart that exposes their vast differences as well as their surprising bonds.A sumptuously mounted vision of an all-but-vanished world, in which appearances and propriety govern every relationship, THE HEART OF ME is based on the 1953 best-seller, "The Echoing Grove," by noted novelist Rosamond Lehmann (and loosely based on her illicit affair with Poet Laureate, C. Day Lewis). Intricately structured as a progression of post-war flashbacks that gradually reveal a host of personal and societal conflicts, the film brings an unusual degree of sexual candor and dark psychology to a time and place normally thought of as "polite." The powerful performances of Bettany ("A Beautiful Mind", "A Knight's Tale") and Williams ("The Sixth Sense", "Rushmore") establish them as full-fledged romantic leads and, in her strongest role since her Oscar-nominated turn in "The Wings of the Dove," Bonham Carter once again shows she is unequalled in giving a modern face to period characters struggling with the boundaries of convention. -- © ThinkFilm
- Directed By
- Thaddeus O'Sullivan
- Written By
- Lucinda Coxon
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 13, 2003 Wide
- On DVD
- Feb 10, 2004
- Studio
- ThinkFilm
Critic Reviews
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Derek Adams, Time Out
O'Sullivan is not a director of great visual flamboyance, but he draws out here performances of subtle and complex shading.
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Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
A well-acted but bloodless drama.
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Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel
While far from the gold standard of The Remains of the Day, it presses all the appropriate buttons.
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Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post
A little, heartbreaking gem.
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Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Terribly tragic, terribly romantic and, ultimately, terribly, terribly dull.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Helena Bonham Carter
as Dinah
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Olivia Williams
as Madeleine
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Paul Bettany
as Rickie Masters
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Eleanor Bron
as Mrs. Burkett
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Luke Newberry
as Anthony
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Rosie Ede
as Mrs. Lilley
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Gillian Hanna
as Betty
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Andrew Havill
as Charles
- Tom Ward
