Rating:1.5/5
Director Ralph Fiennes offers a slow moving period piece centered on Charles Dickens’, who is also portrayed by Fiennes, relationship with a younger woman. A very poised Felicity Jones plays the lady in question, Nelly, and moves throughout the film with a dreamy sort of ease. Although, Fiennes delivers a strong and charismatic performance of the famed author “The Invisible Woman” does not possess the intensity necessary to evoke any real emotional response.Amidst his great popularity and adoring crowds, writer Charles Dickens takes a shining to the lovely young actress Nelly Ternan. What starts as seemingly innocent encounters slowly turns to infatuation on Dickens’ part, forcing the wise-beyond-her-years Nelly to try and separate herself from her desperate admirer. Seemingly laced with intrigue and desire, “The Invisible Woman” fails to deliver the excitement and sensuality usually found in forbidden love. In the end, the film leaves much to be desired.
The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks that reveal the tremulous relationships Dickens shared with the various women in his life. The film obviously centers on Nelly, but it Dickens’ wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) who is perhaps the most intriguing character. As she is overshadowed by the lovely Nelly, it is she who becomes invisible to her husband who harbors no love toward her and ultimately divorces her.
The intimacy between Dickens and Nelly creeps up slowly but surely. It is drowned out however by the sluggish, almost woeful tone of the film. With the exception of a disastrous and perhaps distracting train crash, the film offers no eruptions of drama or outrage. Instead, it simmers quietly on the brink of desire and infidelity.
