‘Invisible’ worth seeing
Directed tastefully by Ralph Fiennes, “The Invisible Woman” is lovely to look at. But it lives up to its own title too well. Fiennes cast himself as Charles Dickens, portrayed here as a Victorian England superstar. His work keeps him busy, but he always has time to shake some hands, help some orphans, enliven a party or two.
In the mid-1860s, he is often accompanied by the Ternan ladies, a family of actresses led by matriarch Frances (Kristin Scott Thomas). Charles is soon smitten with her youngest daughter, Nelly (Felicity Jones), an 18-year-old who intuitively grasps his writings but is far too innocent to understand his romantic inclinations.
Eventually, though, she realizes what everyone else has already noticed: the great (and married!) Dickens is in love with her.
Dickens, though, does not subscribe to societal limitations like his equally celebrated colleague Wilkie Collins (Tom Hollander). Of course, as Nelly points out, freedom for Victorian gentlemen usually requires some sacrifice from their gentlewomen.
Fiennes is wonderful in the lead, so charming and full of life it’s impossible to believe the guy slapping backs and leading singalongs was also Lord Voldemort. .
It’s just too bad he didn’t bring g more of that liveliness to the direction — he and screenwriter Abi Morgan rely on a flashback structure that keeps us distanced from what little action there is.
Fiennes gives great care to the period details, but he also favors costume drama clichés. Beautifully dressed characters stare meaningfully out of large windows, stride purposefully across a stark beach and meander lovingly through flowered meadows. It’s very pretty, but despite all the walking, we never get anywhere.
Jones’ restrained performance fits with the film’s style: Nelly is attractive and sweet, but we don’t see much beneath the surface. She fades next to Fiennes, Hollander and an outstanding Joanna Scanlan, who is wrenching in her brief appearances as Dickens’ dowdy wife, Catherine.
Scanlan renders the rejected wife not just visible, but heartbreakingly vivid.