BASED on the book by Claire Tomalin, The Invisible Woman charts the fragile relationship between one of the titans of English literature and his muse.
Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes juggles responsibilities behind and in front of the camera, opening in 1885 Margate, where Nelly Robinson (Felicity Jones) is a school teacher with a doting husband (Tom Burke).
Mixing in the theatrical circles, Nelly encounters socially awkward writer Charles Dickens (Fiennes), who neglects his long-suffering wife, Catherine (Joanna Scanlan).
Dickens’s fascination with Nelly develops into something far deeper, but she is forced to lurk in the shadows for fear of tainting his reputation. A quotation from A Tale Of Two Cities, displayed at the beginning of the film, argues otherwise, confirming that Dickens was a man who revelled in the ‘‘profound secret and mystery’’ of his fellow man. If only Fiennes’s film revealed more of them.
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