The Invisible Woman

Acclaimed actor, Ralph Fiennes, has directed just one film previously – Coriolanus. In The Invisible Woman, based on the factual book by Claire Tomalin, Fiennes again directs and also plays author Charles Dickens, who falls in love with a young woman and has a long-term relationship hidden from public view.  Dickens (Fiennes), bored with his matronly wife (Joanna Scanlon) and domestic life with ten kids, is attracted to 18-year-old actress Nelly Turnan (Felicity Jones), when he meets her. It takes him a while – understandable considering the social mores of the time – but he wins over Nelly's mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) and embarks on an affair with the young woman who admires his work and can speak intelligently about it.  Screenwriter Abi Morgan (Shame, The Iron Lady) makes a few salient points about the lot of women in days gone by, focusing on the relative freedom of the male author, who was quite the celebrity in his day, and his ability to 'shack up' with his young lover and still enjoy his fame while Nelly had to hide in the shadows. Ralph Fiennes has crafted an aesthetically handsome film with some beautifully shot, memorable scenes. It might move too slowly for some cinema-goers but it's a finely crafted piece with obvious appeal to a certain demographic. Performances are excellent all round, including Fiennes who, unlike a lot of his quite cold stints in other films, exudes warmth as the charismatic Dickens.