The Invisible Woman
Directed by: Ralph Fiennes
Written by: Abi Morgan, based on the book by Claire Tomalin
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristen Scott Thomas, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Hollander, John Kavanagh, Tom Burke, Perdita Weeks, Michelle Fairley
Biography/Drama/Romance - 111 min
Written by: Abi Morgan, based on the book by Claire Tomalin
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristen Scott Thomas, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Hollander, John Kavanagh, Tom Burke, Perdita Weeks, Michelle Fairley
Biography/Drama/Romance - 111 min
Charles Dickens is one of the most famous writers who ever lived, but he is more of a major supporting character in a dramatized biography of one of the major areas of his life, his love life. Elevated to the status of immense celebrity in his day and fodder for their version of the gossip pages, any and all rumors regarding Dickens and his foibles spread like wildfire not only across Victorian England, but across bodies of water and other countries as well. Even in the years before electricity, the telephone, and most mass communication systems save the newspaper, Dickens struggled to hold on to his privacy.
A wealthy and notorious man could survive whispers of an affair; his mistress however, could be forever associated with scandal and separated from proper society for the rest of her life. The consequences facing the two parties involved were not equal. Well into his marriage, Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) loses interest in his wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan). He views her as plain, incapable of understanding his literary genius, and after bearing his 10 children, physically unattractive. Conveniently for him, a fresh, blonde 18 year old star-eyed neophyte enters his orbit.
Nelly (Felicity Jones) is the youngest daughter of a family of actresses. Nelly’s mother, Frances Ternan (Kristen Scott Thomas), and her three sisters all act in stage plays across England. Nelly, unfortunately, lacks the thespian gifts the other ladies in her family possess. Widowed and not particularly financially solvent, Frances plays the part of protective mother and future-minded planner well. Noticing Dickens’s somewhat inappropriate attention on Nelly, Frances on one hand warns Dickens against scandal, yet purposefully places Nelly in situations where she is alone with the much older 45 year old man. Skillfully handled by Kristen Scott Thomas to avoid any overt signs of scheming, Frances Ternan just may be the sharpest string puller in London.
It is difficult to say whether Dickens’s affection for Nelly is love, a mid-life crisis, or the thrill of keeping a young and fresh mistress on the side. His motivations are uncertain not because he is a devious adulterer, but because the story is told from Nelly’s point of view, she is the invisible woman. Presented neither as a gold-digger or ignorant airhead, Nelly is in love with the famous author’s mind. She craves his words which move her emotions far more than any feeling she has for the man. During one of their more difficult arguments, it is not an apology or explanation that moving them past the rough patch, but the completion of Great Expectations that earns not only Nelly’s acquiescence to their secret arrangement, but her loyalty.
As a period drama, The Invisible Woman adeptly showcases London and its country suburbs as they were in the late 1850s. The costumes are intricate, the scenery is lush and green in the countryside and damp and soot-coated in the city, and the script is noticeably faithful to what really happened side stepping multiple opportunities to run wild with invented melodrama. Adapted from Claire Tomalin’s 1991 book, The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, screenwriter Abi Morgan’s (The Iron Lady, 2011; Shame, 2011) script is more effective during scenes showcasing Dickens the writer rather than Dickens the lover.
Ralph Fiennes displays an unceasing energy both toward Dickens’s literature and his paramour. Fiennes also directed The Invisible Woman, his second time behind the camera after his 2011 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and proves he is confident and talented behind the camera. Felicity Jones holds her own against this imposing force matching Fiennes’s intensive performance. Jones has the added challenge of playing Nelly as both a naïve teenager and as jaded middle-aged woman. The transformation is not completely convincing but it is not too much of a distraction.
There are countless film and TV adaptations of Charles Dickens’s masterpieces. However, I cannot remember any stories where Dickens is an actual character let alone a study of his private life. The Invisible Woman is for those who enjoy a deliberately-paced film and relish sitting back to watch incomplete information get filled in. Here we have a slow burning yet earnestly told chronicle. Just as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and John Keats all have recent films exploring their lives, Charles Dickens gets his turn in the spotlight.
A wealthy and notorious man could survive whispers of an affair; his mistress however, could be forever associated with scandal and separated from proper society for the rest of her life. The consequences facing the two parties involved were not equal. Well into his marriage, Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) loses interest in his wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan). He views her as plain, incapable of understanding his literary genius, and after bearing his 10 children, physically unattractive. Conveniently for him, a fresh, blonde 18 year old star-eyed neophyte enters his orbit.
Nelly (Felicity Jones) is the youngest daughter of a family of actresses. Nelly’s mother, Frances Ternan (Kristen Scott Thomas), and her three sisters all act in stage plays across England. Nelly, unfortunately, lacks the thespian gifts the other ladies in her family possess. Widowed and not particularly financially solvent, Frances plays the part of protective mother and future-minded planner well. Noticing Dickens’s somewhat inappropriate attention on Nelly, Frances on one hand warns Dickens against scandal, yet purposefully places Nelly in situations where she is alone with the much older 45 year old man. Skillfully handled by Kristen Scott Thomas to avoid any overt signs of scheming, Frances Ternan just may be the sharpest string puller in London.
It is difficult to say whether Dickens’s affection for Nelly is love, a mid-life crisis, or the thrill of keeping a young and fresh mistress on the side. His motivations are uncertain not because he is a devious adulterer, but because the story is told from Nelly’s point of view, she is the invisible woman. Presented neither as a gold-digger or ignorant airhead, Nelly is in love with the famous author’s mind. She craves his words which move her emotions far more than any feeling she has for the man. During one of their more difficult arguments, it is not an apology or explanation that moving them past the rough patch, but the completion of Great Expectations that earns not only Nelly’s acquiescence to their secret arrangement, but her loyalty.
As a period drama, The Invisible Woman adeptly showcases London and its country suburbs as they were in the late 1850s. The costumes are intricate, the scenery is lush and green in the countryside and damp and soot-coated in the city, and the script is noticeably faithful to what really happened side stepping multiple opportunities to run wild with invented melodrama. Adapted from Claire Tomalin’s 1991 book, The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, screenwriter Abi Morgan’s (The Iron Lady, 2011; Shame, 2011) script is more effective during scenes showcasing Dickens the writer rather than Dickens the lover.
Ralph Fiennes displays an unceasing energy both toward Dickens’s literature and his paramour. Fiennes also directed The Invisible Woman, his second time behind the camera after his 2011 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and proves he is confident and talented behind the camera. Felicity Jones holds her own against this imposing force matching Fiennes’s intensive performance. Jones has the added challenge of playing Nelly as both a naïve teenager and as jaded middle-aged woman. The transformation is not completely convincing but it is not too much of a distraction.
There are countless film and TV adaptations of Charles Dickens’s masterpieces. However, I cannot remember any stories where Dickens is an actual character let alone a study of his private life. The Invisible Woman is for those who enjoy a deliberately-paced film and relish sitting back to watch incomplete information get filled in. Here we have a slow burning yet earnestly told chronicle. Just as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and John Keats all have recent films exploring their lives, Charles Dickens gets his turn in the spotlight.
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