It's the blitz over WWII London. Nightclub singer Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) reunites with old flame poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). His unstable wife Caitlin Macnamara (Sienna Miller) joins them. British officer William Killick (Cillian Murphy) is taken with Vera. He eventually gets her to marry him. He leaves for war and she discovers that she's pregnant. She joins Dylan's family in Wales seaside homes.
The style leaves the movie feeling artificial. The problem is that it infects the characters' overwrought romances. Everything and everyone feels fake. In the first half, it's hard to watch these great actors putting down big emotional scenes that ultimately don't work. Leaving London does help to strip the movie of its glossy unreality. It allows the emotions to gain true weight. The second half is better but it's not quite enough.
The style leaves the movie feeling artificial. The problem is that it infects the characters' overwrought romances. Everything and everyone feels fake. In the first half, it's hard to watch these great actors putting down big emotional scenes that ultimately don't work. Leaving London does help to strip the movie of its glossy unreality. It allows the emotions to gain true weight. The second half is better but it's not quite enough.