In Thaddeus O' Sullivan's THE HEART OF ME Madeleine (Olivia Williams) & Dinah (Helena Bonham Carter) are sisters with little in common except for their bloodlines & the man that they both love Madeleine & her husband Rickie (Paul Bettany) appear to be the perfect couple They have an exquisite home a loving son & are obviously well bred & well off When Madeleine's bohemian sister Dinah returns to pre-World War II London for their father's funeral she finds herself drawn to her brother-in-law The attraction is mutual & while Madeleine tries to marry her sister off to a fine gentleman Dinah & Rickie begin a torrid love affair with heartbreaking consequences The costumes & sets of the film evoke both the grandeur of London society in the 1930s & the war-ravaged city it became in the 1940s Bonham Carter brings a childlike wonder to Dinah a free spirit with unbridled passion for life Williams' Madeleine meanwhile is almost bittersweet; she seems to envy Dinah's freedom yet would never let down her own guard or upset her pristine world As Rickie Bettany is a perfect British gentleman who suddenly finds himself a bundle of raw emotion