For the past 10 years, writer-director Anthony Minghella has been blessed with The Midas Touch.

His three cinematic epics - The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain - have garnered countless plaudits and trophies, including 24 Oscar nominations and 33 Bafta nominations.

Our love affair with Minghella is about to come to an end, though, with Breaking And Entering - a contemporary love story set against the urban sprawl of present day London.

Filmed on location in the capital during the summer of 2005, the film is a valentine to the city - a cultural melting pot where office tower blocks cast protective shadows over housing estates filled with residents of all nationalities and religions.

Against this vibrant backdrop, Minghella conceives a muddled and ponderous affair between two people from opposite sides of the social divide.

Landscape architects Will (Law), above right, and Sandy (Freeman), above left, set up their new state-of-the-art studio office in King's Cross, only for thieves to break in and steal all of their their plans for the area's regeneration.

The investigating cop (Winstone) strongly suspects an inside job and suggests the cleaners might be to blame, alarming Sandy who has a crush on one girl, Erika (Chikezie).

Will stakes out the premises, surmising that the thieves may return, and he discovers that a young Bosnian immigrant called Miro (Gavron) is partly responsible for the break-in.

Before he can report Miro to the police, Will develops a fascination with the boy's mother, seamstress Amira (Binoche), initiating a passionate affair, which threatens his long-term relationship with Scandinavian girlfriend Liv (Penn).

As the relationship between Will and Amira intensifies, he confronts the likely repercussions for his partner and troubled 13-year-old daughter Bea (Rogers).

Breaking And Entering promises so much but our high expectations are met largely by disappointment.

Binoche and youngster Gavron bring an emotional depth to their characters, which is absent from the rest of the film.

Law looks good but delivers a largely one-note performance.

The opening hour, establishing the characters in haphazard fashion severely tests our patience.

It's only in the closing 30 minutes, when Amira demonstrates the extent of her love for her son, that the film grinds into gear, building up to a tense dnouement which is dramatically satisfying, if not entirely plausible.