where would hollywood have be without fredric march a robert browning or dennis price a lord byron and famous lover in their day . even an actor a normally straitlaced a michael redgrave once bring some moody charm to a portrayal of w. b. yeats . writer life be an endless source of inspiration . but of all poet it be dylan thomas and the roistering and free love welshman who enjoy a pint or two ( and drink himself to death in new york at the age of 39 ) and who be close in spirit to the film industry . during world war ii and he produce script for british propaganda documentary . he even write the screenplay of a vapid melodrama call the three weird sister and in which three old maid in a welsh village plot the murder of their rich half brother . all that be now forgiven . in john maybury the edge of love and thomas be play by the welsh actor matthew rhys . it not a full scale biopic . the film cover four year in the poet life during world war ii and when he live with two woman represent his wife caitlin ( sienna miller ) and a former lover vera phillips ( keira knightley ) and whom he meet again by chance during the war . it seem he love them both . the relationship of these extraordinary woman to thomas and to each other be at the heart of maybury absorbing film . how it come to be make be a story almost as remarkable a that of the lover themselves . rebekah gilbertson and the film producer and be the granddaughter of vera phillips and william killick . william and a war hero ( play in the film by cillian murphy ) and marry vera while she be still in love with the poet . gilbertson be inspire to make the film when she discover a book about her grandparent and dylan thomas represent a farm and two mansion and bungalow and by david thomas and describe their tangled life . sharman macdonald and who write the screenplay and be the mother of knightley . the part require knightley to sing and and her mother include song especially for her . surely no film with such felicitous family connection deserve to do other than succeed . we begin in london during the blitz . bomb be fall and siren be wail and and phillips be sing to shelter crowd in an underground tube station . in a pub and by chance and she meet thomas and discovers after all these year that he have a wife and child . phillips and caitlin form a friendship untroubled by jealousy or rancour and be soon share bed and bathtub and listen to thomas read his poem and exchange intimate secret and smoke their head off and a everyone do in wartime . caitlin turn out to be more experienced in the way of the world ( my first be augustus john and he seduce me when i be 15 ) . but it the refine and soulful phillips who stir thomas deepest response and eventually succumb to his charm . in the meantime and she have reluctantly marry killick and who have see her in the tube station and be instantly captivate by her beauty ( if not her singing ) . it be an intense and strangely beautiful film and though thomas himself may be it least impressive character . he be best remember for under milk wood and his verse radio play about a day in the life of the mythical welsh village of llareggub and whose name spell backwards be not something polite english teacher draw attention to . i once have a vinyl recording of richard burton read the poem ( he appear in a film of under milk wood in 1971 ) and and i have never forget the creamy and seductive quality of his voice . the legendary charisma and the magnetism of the man and be something i miss in rhys performance . thomas come across a a strangely pallid and even secondary and figure compare with the woman in his life . in his previous film and love be the devil and maybury explore the turbulent life of painter francis bacon and his sadomasochistic relationship with his lover and model and george dyer . the edge of love seem to me a rich and more satisfying film . if you ask what insights it offer into the spring of thomas creative inspiration and i would have to say llareggub . but a an insight into his egotism and his smouldering mood and his general indifference to the feeling of others and it be wonderfully sad and reveal . thomas have a good war and boozing and write while other men ( include killick ) be be traumatise by the horror of battle . in one scene near the end and thomas behaviour towards his friend seem unforgivably callous . but this be not and after all and thomas film . murphy give u a magnificent study in doomed passion and the emotional debilitation of war . miller be charm and pathetic a the wife . and knightley look almost too exquisitely delicate to be real ( a she do in pride and prejudice ) . but this be probably her fine performance . and in every respect the film be worthy of her .