I grew up with only the vaguest sense of who Dylan Thomas was...we had a recording of his and I remember his distinctly sonorous voice. I knew he was a famous Welsh poet, however somewhere along the way I began to think of him as Richard Burton. Unfortunately, until encountering this film, The Edge of Love, I hadn’t thought to look much beyond the legend of the alcoholic Welsh genius who died before his time.

The Edge of Love doesn’t exactly set the record straight, it’s about a specific time in the lives of Thomas and his wife Caitlin. It’s fascinating partly because the whole project was inspired by producer Rebekah Gilbertson’s interest in her grandparents friendship with the Thomases during Word War II. Gilbertson’s grandmother Vera had grown up with Thomas, gone to school with him and spent summer holidays with him.

The film begins in 1940, when Vera (Keira Knightley) and Dylan (Matthew Rhys) reunite in London. Thomas, deemed too unhealthy to be called up unless absolutely necessary, was contributing to the war effort by writing films and radio shows. He still thinks of Vera in terms of their youthful puppy love, but he is already married to Caitlin (Sienna Miller) with one son. Vera becomes more interested in Caitlin, and once they have examined each other the story is more about their relationship, always a complex mix of emotion, devotion and betrayal when it comes to women. Vera meets and in a flash marries William Killick (Cillian Murphy), Gilberton’s grandfather, who immediately heads off to war, leaving her alone with a baby. Vera and the Thomases leave London for Wales where it all falls apart, once William returns, traumatized from the War to witness this oddly triangular situation.

This is the kind of film that had me googling Thomas for confirmation, and to learn more, clear up the cobwebs. In that sense it’s marvelous. There is much legend and misinformation about Dylan Thomas, he’s a figure who is lost in the present day and should not be. This is also a film that given the heavy duty cast, directing and writing team could have, should have been a bit, I don’t know, easier?

Yet I think I understand. John Maybury, the director, was one of Derek Jarman’s spon-taneous production team particularly in The Last of England and War Requiem. He is a painter and video artist with decidedly avant garde leanings. So a straightforward biopic was out of the question, thank goodness. My only reservations have to do with some bits of camera derring do and narrative distractions that seemed to serve no particular purpose. For example in one scene we are offered an upside down and overhead shot (I assume a technocrane here) that is held so long that you begin to ask yourself what you did to deserve this headache/nausea. I don’t mind being reminded that it’s all a construction, but the interruptions weren’t consistent and therefore seemed jarringly out of place for a film that was more or less straightforward.

On the other hand, I’ll watch Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy in just about anything. These are two of the finest actors who aren’t major movie stars working at the moment. Miller has that fearless Kate/Cate thing but without the strong jaw, she is delicately pretty, actually gorgeous. She could play it as starlet but she clearly can’t conform, God bless her. Here she does her best, without even trying, to steal Keira’s thunder, not hard given Knightley’s always frozen affect. Cillian Murphy is the big blue eyed chameleon, not usually the straight man, and here good, particularly when he gets to unravel.

Dylan Thomas was a legendary figure, and I can’t say one gets a good sense of that from this film, but it’s all right. There is just enough here to hang on to, and to inspire one to look deeper and to eagerly look forward to Miller and Murphy’s next outings.

Directed by John Maybury; written by Sharman Macdonald; produced by Sarah Rad-clyffe and Rebekah Gilbertson; Director of Photography, Jonathan Freeman; edited by Emma E. Hickox. Released by Capitol Films. With:Keira Knightley (Vera Phillips); Sienna Miller (Caitlin Thomas); Cillian Murphy (William Killick); and Matthew Rhys (Dylan Thomas.)