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Helena Bonham Carter, Olivia Williams, Paul Bettany, Eleanor Bron, Luke Newberry ... see more see more... , Rosie Ede , Gillian Hanna , Andrew Havill , Tom Ward

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 t... read more read more...riangle, 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

Flixster Users

60% liked it

1,900 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

60 critics

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Release Date: June 13, 2003

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DVD Release Date: February 10, 2004

Stats: 108 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (108)

  • gator681
    February 10, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic][color=darkred]"The Heart of Me" starts in 1934 in a well-to-do household in London. Madeleine(Olivia Williams) is constantly worrying about the marriage prospects for her bohemian sister, Dinah(Helena Bonham Carter). Getting Dinah married has been a lot of t... read morerouble for Madeleine. Little does she suspect that the reason for this, is that Dinah is having an affair with Madeleine's husband, Rickie(Paul Bettany). The moral of the movie is that having an affair with your sister-in-law can be a lot of fun, until somebody gets pregnant. "The Heart of Me" is not that interesting with a good cast wasted playing types more than anythingelse. A flash forward to 1946 is awkward in giving away some of the story while cheating in other ways.[/color][/font]
  • ileo
    January 13, 2008
    ileo
    Great movie! Fantastic story plot. Amazing actors!
  • randomaddress4u
    March 24, 2007
    randomaddress4u
    Let me begin by saying, I KNOW this movie isn't for everyone. I KNOW many people would be bored to tears and say 'What the FARK? I want that 90 minutes back'. OK, with that said, I can go on to say, thankfully, I'm not everyone. ;-) I don't know when or why I added this to my... read more online rental queue but I'm glad I did. I suspect I added it because Paul Bettany is in it. What can I say? He never disappoints. I watched this movie tonight and rode a seesaw of emotions for the individual characters...teetering back and forth from liking them to somewhat despising them. And, again, not everyone would care, but, I thought the costume design was excellent...particularly Olivia Williams. I also liked the pacing of the story and the fact that I was surprised by the characters just when I thought I knew what they were all about. So there. ;-)

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Critic Reviews

Terry Lawson
August 21, 2003
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

A well-acted but bloodless drama. Full Review

Jay Boyar
August 8, 2003
Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel

While far from the gold standard of The Remains of the Day, it presses all the appropriate buttons.

Michael O'Sullivan
August 1, 2003
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

A little, heartbreaking gem.

Ann Hornaday
August 1, 2003
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Terribly tragic, terribly romantic and, ultimately, terribly, terribly dull.

Roger Ebert
July 25, 2003
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The film is a soapy melodrama set from about 1936 to 1946 and done with style. Full Review

Loren King
July 24, 2003
Loren King, Chicago Tribune

An old-fashioned weepie buffed to a Masterpiece Theater gloss. Full Review

Michael Booth
July 22, 2003
Michael Booth, Denver Post

The Heart of Me needed more work on its front-end story and less work on its set design. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
July 17, 2003
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

Watching it choked me up in the way that reading Ian McEwan's Atonement did.

Doris N. Truong
July 11, 2003
Doris N. Truong, Dallas Morning News

The Heart of Me would have been decent fare on television, but it lacks the grandeur one hopes for at the cinema. Full Review

Carla Meyer
June 28, 2003
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

The key to movies like this is what goes unsaid, but too much gets left out here, at the expense of character. Full Review

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The Heart of Me Trivia

  • In what movie was the quote, "I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me..."  Answer »
  • What does Nicholas Cage sing at the end of the movie 'Wild At Heart'?  Answer »
  • ''I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.'' What movie?  Answer »
  • In which movie would you hear the quote: My brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart out of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bond of fellowship, but it is not this day?  Answer »
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