Ralph Fiennes got plenty of plaudits for his directorial debut, Coriolanus, and for his second venture he’s moving from Shakespeare to Dickens with The Invisible Woman – it’s not based on a Dickens tale, but it is about him.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Felicity Jones (Breathe In, Like Crazy) stars as Nelly Ternan, the woman with whom Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) had a secret decade-long relationship. They are joined by a stellar British cast including Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, I’ve Loved you So Long) as Nelly’s mother – marking the first occasion Fiennes and Scott Thomas have appeared together on screen since the Academy Award® winning The English Patient in 1996 – alongside Tom Hollander (In the Loop, Pride & Prejudice) as author and friend of Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Joanna Scanlan (‘The Thick of It’, Notes on a Scandal) who delivers a heart-breaking performance as Dickens’ long-suffering wife, Catherine.

‘Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories, provoked by remorse and guilt, take us back in time to follow the story of her relationship with Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) with whom she discovered an exciting but fragile complicity.

‘Dickens – famous, controlling and emotionally isolated within his success – falls for Nelly, who comes from a family of actors. The theatre is a vital arena for Dickens – a brilliant amateur actor – a man more emotionally coherent on the page or on stage, than in life. As Nelly becomes the focus of Dickens’ passion and his muse, for both of them secrecy is the price, and for Nelly a life of “invisibility”.’

The film’s out in the UK February 7th 2014. [Read more…]