THE HEART OF ME

UK, 2002, 96 minutes, Colour.
Helena Bonham- Carter, Olivia Williams, Paul Bettany, Eleanor Bron.
Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan.

A BBC film and a reminder of those dramas that it used to do. They were excellent in the re-creation of a period, boasted strong performances and were very civilised in their treatment of serious treatment of life issues and relationships. That is exactly what The Heart of Me is like. Some audiences profess themselves weary of this kind of restrained, even slow-moving, traditional drama. Others enjoy it because it is so well crafted and offers insight into the human condition.

The author of the original novel is Rosamond Lehman and it is suggested that it is semi-autobiographical concerning her long relationship with poet Cecil Day Lewis. It is a dramatic three-hander, a story of an intense triangle. The first part of the film is set in London in 1934, opening with the funeral of the beloved father of two very different sisters. Madeleine, played superbly by Olivia Williams, is loving but reticent, even cold. Dinah, Helena Bonham Carter doing excellently what she has done before, is a free spirit. Rickie, Madeleine's gentlemanly and devoted husband, is played by Paul Bettany.

Everything is altered when Rickie's feelings for Dinah surface and he begins an affair. This is a perennial theme of films but it is treated here with sympathy for each of the three characters while showing their unpleasant sides and how deeply they hurt each other. When the scene moves to 1946, we are aware of what has happened but are not sure whether the characters know the truth. This is revealed in flashbacks which develop well the complications in the relationships and how each character is able (or not able) to deal with the hurt and the betrayals.

The characters are so well portrayed, bringing to life the complications and emotional pain, that the film should satisfy audiences who prefer their drama low-key but intense.

1. The title, love, as applied to each of the central characters?

2. The re-creation of England in the 1930s and 1940s. London, the countryside? Society? The musical score and the contemporary songs, "The Very Thought of You," "Heart and Soul"? The use of classics? The planets?

3. The film as a three-hander, the interactions between the triangle? Others on the periphery?

4. The structure of the film: establishing the 1930s, moving to 1946, the flashbacks? The dramatic impact for understanding the development of each of the characters and their interactions?

5. The opening with the funeral, the dead father, his relationship to his two daughters, to Dinah as the popular one but her not understanding it, to Madeleine and her really being loved but not able to accept it? The dominant presence of their mother? The two girls and the different kinds of self-esteem and lack of self-esteem, their growing up together, the sibling rivalry? The reception after the funeral and the tensions?

6. The picture of Madeleine, older, loving with Ricky, her husband, yet cold? Ambitious? A socialite? Her relationship with Dinah, wanting to get her settled, choosing a fiance? A socialite, preparing for meals, entertaining? The parties? The announcement of the engagement, Dinah accepting her sister's suggestion, its being called off? Her relationship with Ricky, her love for her son Anthony? With her mother, the memories of growing up, their father? Ricky and her love for him, being at home, the perfect household? Her care for Dinah?

7. The contrast with Dinah, her bohemian appearance, style, wandering away from home, relationships? The impact of her absence and her return for the funeral? Her father's love for her, her mother's disdain of her way of life? Madeleine, the funeral, her deciding to stay? The engagement, her accepting the fiance? The meal and the tensions? Her walk in the rain, Ricky seeing her, going to her room? The possibility of the affair? Her welcoming Ricky again, the actual affair? His setting up the apartment, Dinah and her sharing it with Bridie? The background of art? Her becoming pregnant, going off to the seaside, the child being stillborn? The effect on her, Ricky and his being late for the birth? Bridie and her jealousies? The breaking of the affair?

8. Ricky as a character: solid but weak, passionate, devoted to Madeleine but her coldness repelling him? His love for his son? His being attracted to Dinah, watching her, going to her room, the warnings, the affair and its effect? Her pregnancy, his sending her to the seaside, the car and his being absent from the birth?

9. Madeleine and the brittleness of her life, success? Ricky and his poor health? The doctor and trying to get Ricky well again? The shock of Bridie's letter? Confronting Ricky, his leaving, setting up house with Dinah?

10. Dinah and Ricky, his illness, the girl's mother and the hospitalisation, with Madeleine and telling Ricky that Dinah has gone to Europe? The truth, Ricky's return to Madeleine?

11. Ricky and his return, the assault on Madeleine, the conception of Clarissa? His continuing to work, his illness, going to order the bracelet, Blake and the quotation, with Dinah? His wandering the streets, the blitz and his death? The receipt in his pocket?

12. The re-creation of the war, the blitz on London? Anthony and his relationship to his parents, enlisting, his death? The post-war period and Madeleine becoming older, dowdy? Dinah's visit, the two sisters talking, recollecting the past, their own experiences (and Madeleine's new relationship)? The issue of the receipt, Madeleine giving it to Dinah?

13. The importance of their mother on the edge of things, her presence, physical and psychological presence, domination? Bridie, her friendship with Dinah, her love for her, her feeling rejected, her sending the letter?

14. The overall impact of this kind of romantic re-creation of a period? Popular romance - with more depth?