The Invisible Woman

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The Invisible Woman...not my choice tonight. Anyway Charles Dickens is a larger than life, charismatic celebrity, possibly the first media star when he meets a much younger woman and falls in love. It doesn't help that his wife, after 10 kids, has become grossly overweight and rather apathetic. When the young woman's mother more or less bargains her daughter to Dickens in return for help with the family theater career, Dickens takes on a long term mistress and separates from his wife. For some years after that she lives as a kept woman, having her very quiet affair with the author until his death. Apparently this is pretty much a true story, taken from a book of the same name.

The flick was directed and starred in by Ralph Fiennes and is rather slow, quiet and very Victorian. Costumes and sets are excellent, the acting is spot on, but the whole thing is fairly drab. For a famous guy who risked his career, supported a mistress and broke a lot of rules in his time, the whole thing is portrayed as having happened without much drama, even the scene where Dickens' wife more or less surrenders to the lover. In short, if you're looking for some Euro-Class and have a couple hours to kill, you could do worse. On the other hand, you could also do better.




We are probably thinking along the same lines with this one. 'Drab' is a great word to use. here's my review:

A dour, repressive movie about Charles Dickens and his relationship with his mistress, Nelly (Felicity Jones). Fiennes directs very well, but the look of the film is relentlessly murky and sombre. Jones is brilliant at looking pensive and broody, but given the actual length of their relationship (13 years) one would hope she might have found time to crack into a smile. No such luck.

5/10