Set in the 1800’s England, The Invisible Woman comes to the screen with all the opulence of the period.  The period piece takes you on a journey of uncharted romance shrouded with an affair.  Appealing due to the actuality of the true story based on Charles Dickens, the film offers a look into the private life of one of the world’s greatest authors.  Beautifully presented with realistic settings of the era and enjoyable acting by the whole cast, it’s a drama you can relish a long time after you have left the theater.

The film begins in 1883 England with Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) walking across the sands clothed in black.  It’s her daily ritual to walk by the water for the sea air and physical exercise.  Flash back some years earlier and we find teenage Nelly with her mother and sisters attending a tryout for a play directed by Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes).  Nelly’s the youngest female of the acting family of Mrs. Frances Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas), the others are Maria (Perdita Weeks) and Fanny (Amanda Hale). Dickens likes her stature so gives her the part of reading the closing lines of the play.

Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens

Smitten by Nelly’s beauty and youth, Charles finds himself getting more involved with the Ternan’s inviting them to social affairs.  More so, he invites himself into their lives for which they are flattered and the same time cautious.  Charles wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) can see right through him and we find her getting weary about his involvement with the Ternan’s.  When Charles finds he’s hopelessly in love with Nelly, it poses a problem for his public image.

Taking a chance on meeting secretly, both Charles and Nelly find themselves at odds with the situation. Director/Actor Ralph Fiennes keeps the intrigue at a high level showing Dickens’ daring and lust for the young woman. He works his audience well moving the Ternan characters into the trap of allowing the affair to happen, and then continue.  His masterful reveal however, involves Catherine Dickens with a scene that surprises yet shows the power that wealth and fame has over the lives of all involved.

Fanny (Amanda Hale) Maria (Perdita Weeks) Nelly (Felicity Jones) and Frances Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas)

The acting by the central cast is enchanting providing a mystique to the film and drawing you into their characters.  I especially enjoyed the actors of the Ternan family with Kristin Scott Thomas leading the way.  Her performance as the mother who gets sucked into Dickens’s world for an opportunely is cautious yet submissive to the greatness of the notable writer. You can see Frances’s hesitation to the threat of her daughter getting involved with Dickens, but she needs to push her children up the social ladder so she turns a blind eye to the inevitable affair.  Dickens’s wife played by Joanna Scanlan is another standout showing her ability to make her character important to the plot by allowing her jealousy to get the better of her. In a well played scene where she succumbs to the fact that she is helpless in fighting for her man, she wilts and accepts her fate.

Felicity Jones as Nelly Ternan in THE INVISIBLE WOMAN

The two leads have good chemistry, but I would have liked a little more dramatic obsession by Felicity Jones.  I really couldn’t accept her easy compliance to the terms Dickens sets and her love for him doesn’t really come across on the screen as one of burning desire.  Unless Nelly was supposed to be just another opportunist, her character is too cold to be believable as a lover. Jones also looks a little old for the role of a teenager, although later in the film she fits the part of the older Nelly.

Ralph Fiennes does a nice job of directing, but being a lead as well in this costume piece, he comes across more pretentious than I would have liked. He flings his character around as if there’s no remorse or care for his family or even Frances.  His coldness to his wife in public and the treatment of his children hardly hide his secret of having an affair.  It’s hard to look through the lens and be in front of it at the same time, and here it suffers in his performance.

The Invisible Woman has been R for some sexual content, most of which is hidden by blankets except for one quick moment. Be cautious however, when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are very inappropriate for adolescents.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  An enjoyable period piece and biographical recreation (C+)

Additional Film Information:
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones (Nelly Ternan), Kristin Scott Thomas, Perdita Weeks (Maria Ternan), Amanda Hale (Fanny Ternan), Joanna Scanlan (Catherine Dickens)
Directed by: Ralph Fiennes
Genre: Drama, Biography, Romance
MPAA Rating: R for some sexual content
Running Time: 1 hr 41 min
Opening Date: January 24, 2013
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics