★★☆☆☆"This is a tale of woe; this is a tale of sorrow. A love denied, a love restored, to live beyond tomorrow." This melancholic soliloquy is the poetic précis for Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman (2013). A detailed realisation of Claire Tomalin's eponymous biography, the film depict the early life of Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), the illegitimate lover of Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes). With his latest offering, Fiennes has shifted his gaze from one literary icon to another. Whilst his adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus looked to contextualise the Bard's prose within a contemporary setting, The Invisible Woman acts to resuscitate the lost words of a woman whose story almost went untold.
- 6/18/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Not a gender swapped re-imagining of H.G. Well's classic tale, or even a spin-off for The Fantastic Four's Sue Richards, The Invisible Woman, based on the novel of the same name by Claire Tomalin, is in fact the story of Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), the secret mistress of Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes), a woman the renowned author went to great lengths to keep out of the public eye. The second directorial effort for Fiennes, after Coriolanus, it builds on the promise he had shown in his feature debut, coming together as a deeply emotional, and beautifully shot, experience. The first thing that hits you about The Invisible Woman is how unrelentingly bleak it is. This isn't a easy watch, with constantly jarring flash forwards and flash backs, and a suffocatingly dark tone, but it is an extremely rewarding one. It is not you're usual period drama, eschewing the fanciful...
- 2/23/2014
- by noreply@blogger.com (Tom White)
- www.themoviebit.com
The award-winning biographer on the best thing she's read this year, the superior pleasures of radio, and a treat to come at the National
Claire Tomalin began her career as a journalist, working as literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times before making her name as a biographer. Her first book, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread first book award in 1974, while The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, and Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man are among her other award-winning biographies. Tomalin's 1991 play, The Winter Wife, was based on her biography of Katherine Mansfield and performed at the Lyric Hammersmith. She also edited and wrote an introduction for Mary Shelley's children's book, Maurice, published in 1998. The Invisible Woman, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes and based on Tomalin's book, is in cinemas now.
Claire Tomalin began her career as a journalist, working as literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times before making her name as a biographer. Her first book, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread first book award in 1974, while The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, and Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man are among her other award-winning biographies. Tomalin's 1991 play, The Winter Wife, was based on her biography of Katherine Mansfield and performed at the Lyric Hammersmith. She also edited and wrote an introduction for Mary Shelley's children's book, Maurice, published in 1998. The Invisible Woman, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes and based on Tomalin's book, is in cinemas now.
- 2/10/2014
- by Leah Harper
- The Guardian - Film News
Felicity Jones is mesmerising as a young actress whose affair with Charles Dickens is told in flashback in Ralph Fiennes's adaptation of Claire Tomalin's book
Ralph Fiennes may be the director and star of this handsomely mounted tale of the private life of Charles Dickens, but it's Felicity Jones who makes it fly. She plays Nelly Ternan, a young actress of indeterminate talent who captures the author's eye and heart, but wrestles (philosophically, morally, practically) with the idea of becoming his mistress.
Seen in flashback from the perspective of the now married Nelly, tormented by the memories of her affair, the story unfolds in chilly but engaging fashion, with Abi Morgan's typically insightful script taking its lead from Claire Tomalin's book.
At the heart of Nelly's dilemma is a gender inequality that Morgan's screenplay lays bare; the progressive "freedom" from marriage that Dickens and cohort Wilkie Collins...
Ralph Fiennes may be the director and star of this handsomely mounted tale of the private life of Charles Dickens, but it's Felicity Jones who makes it fly. She plays Nelly Ternan, a young actress of indeterminate talent who captures the author's eye and heart, but wrestles (philosophically, morally, practically) with the idea of becoming his mistress.
Seen in flashback from the perspective of the now married Nelly, tormented by the memories of her affair, the story unfolds in chilly but engaging fashion, with Abi Morgan's typically insightful script taking its lead from Claire Tomalin's book.
At the heart of Nelly's dilemma is a gender inequality that Morgan's screenplay lays bare; the progressive "freedom" from marriage that Dickens and cohort Wilkie Collins...
- 2/9/2014
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Dallas Buyers Club | The Invisible Woman | RoboCop | Mr Peabody & Sherman | The Patrol | Lift To The Scaffold
Dallas Buyers Club (15)
(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013, Us) Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn. 117 mins
What McConaughey loses in body mass he gains in compassion in this drawn-from-real-life drama, which cleverly disguises its awards-friendliness beneath thespian commitment and non-issue-movie storytelling. Diagnosed with Aids in 1980s Texas, McConaughey's rodeo-loving electrician takes matters into his own hands and devises his own grey-market treatment programme for the ravaged gay community (in partnership with Leto's lovable transgender cohort, Rayon). The authorities don't approve; the Academy probably will.
The Invisible Woman (12A)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2013, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott-Thomas. 111 mins
Working to Claire Tomalin's biography, Fiennes gives us a tale of two Dickenses: the charismatic literary celebrity and the self-absorbed love rat. But the passion of his secret affair with Jones's teenage actor is smothered by repression,...
Dallas Buyers Club (15)
(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013, Us) Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn. 117 mins
What McConaughey loses in body mass he gains in compassion in this drawn-from-real-life drama, which cleverly disguises its awards-friendliness beneath thespian commitment and non-issue-movie storytelling. Diagnosed with Aids in 1980s Texas, McConaughey's rodeo-loving electrician takes matters into his own hands and devises his own grey-market treatment programme for the ravaged gay community (in partnership with Leto's lovable transgender cohort, Rayon). The authorities don't approve; the Academy probably will.
The Invisible Woman (12A)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2013, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott-Thomas. 111 mins
Working to Claire Tomalin's biography, Fiennes gives us a tale of two Dickenses: the charismatic literary celebrity and the self-absorbed love rat. But the passion of his secret affair with Jones's teenage actor is smothered by repression,...
- 2/8/2014
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Ralph Fiennes shows his directorial skills with this adaptation of Claire Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens' secret lover
Piercingly intimate and intelligent, this new movie shows how Ralph Fiennes is going from strength to strength as a director, and his on‑screen presence, sometimes rather desiccated and chilly, is here richly sanguine, as he plays Charles Dickens – the preening peacock of emotional pain. Screenwriter Abi Morgan adapts Claire Tomalin's pioneering investigative biography of Dickens's secret lover, Nelly Ternan, and cleverly builds in echoes of John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Felicity Jones plays Ternan, first seen as a lone, cloaked figure striding across the beach, boiling with memories, and then in flashback as the teenage thespian whose delicate beauty and heartbreaking professional uncertainty bewitch the conceited Dickens at the height of his celebrity. Joanna Scanlan gives a shrewd and sensitive performance as Dickens's neglected wife, Catherine,...
Piercingly intimate and intelligent, this new movie shows how Ralph Fiennes is going from strength to strength as a director, and his on‑screen presence, sometimes rather desiccated and chilly, is here richly sanguine, as he plays Charles Dickens – the preening peacock of emotional pain. Screenwriter Abi Morgan adapts Claire Tomalin's pioneering investigative biography of Dickens's secret lover, Nelly Ternan, and cleverly builds in echoes of John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Felicity Jones plays Ternan, first seen as a lone, cloaked figure striding across the beach, boiling with memories, and then in flashback as the teenage thespian whose delicate beauty and heartbreaking professional uncertainty bewitch the conceited Dickens at the height of his celebrity. Joanna Scanlan gives a shrewd and sensitive performance as Dickens's neglected wife, Catherine,...
- 2/7/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The story of Charles Dickens and his secret mistress is no romance, and no modest costume drama, either. It’s a tale of women being practical because they had to be. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast, love Dickens
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
His novels were full of life, and so was Charles Dickens himself… though not always in the most socially acceptable ways. Not for his restrictive Victorian times, and not necessarily in ways that would considered cool today, either. Dickens had a mistress for the last 12 years of his life, for instance, a fact dug up by biographer Claire Tomalin for her book The Invisible Woman, a relationship all but erased from history at the time in order to hide the scandal of it. Fittingly, then, this adaptation...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
His novels were full of life, and so was Charles Dickens himself… though not always in the most socially acceptable ways. Not for his restrictive Victorian times, and not necessarily in ways that would considered cool today, either. Dickens had a mistress for the last 12 years of his life, for instance, a fact dug up by biographer Claire Tomalin for her book The Invisible Woman, a relationship all but erased from history at the time in order to hide the scandal of it. Fittingly, then, this adaptation...
- 2/7/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
In his second film as a director, Ralph Fiennes makes a bold attempt to push beyond conventional period drama. For all the period trappings and restraint, he is dealing here with raw and primal emotions. The screenplay, by Abi Morgan, is adapted from Claire Tomalin's book that explored the likely affair between Charles Dickens (Fiennes) late in his career and the young actress Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones).
- 2/6/2014
- The Independent - Film
In his second film as a director, Ralph Fiennes makes a bold attempt to push beyond conventional period drama. For all the period trappings and restraint, he is dealing here with raw and primal emotions. The screenplay, by Abi Morgan, is adapted from Claire Tomalin's book that explored the likely affair between Charles Dickens (Fiennes) late in his career and the young actress Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones).
- 2/6/2014
- The Independent - Film
Review Ivan Radford 7 Feb 2014 - 06:13
The story of Charles Dickens' secret lover is a slow, understated affair, says Ivan. Here's his review of The Invisible Woman...
"You men live your lives while it is we who have to wait," says Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) halfway through Ralph Fiennes' thoughtful study on love, loss and identity.
The Invisible Woman of the title, she is the secret sweetheart of Charles Dickens (Fiennes), whom he meets just as his career is at its peak - much to the apparent consternation of Nelly's mother, Mrs. Frances Ternan (a delightfully stern Kristin Scott Thomas). Falling for each other over theatre rehearsals of his play No Thoroughfare, the movie follows the couple's gradual romance in the face of society's conventions, which leave Nelly forgotten in the shade of the writer's public life.
That respectable Victorian veneer spreads to Fiennes' direction, swapping his hectic Coriolanus helming for a calmer,...
The story of Charles Dickens' secret lover is a slow, understated affair, says Ivan. Here's his review of The Invisible Woman...
"You men live your lives while it is we who have to wait," says Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) halfway through Ralph Fiennes' thoughtful study on love, loss and identity.
The Invisible Woman of the title, she is the secret sweetheart of Charles Dickens (Fiennes), whom he meets just as his career is at its peak - much to the apparent consternation of Nelly's mother, Mrs. Frances Ternan (a delightfully stern Kristin Scott Thomas). Falling for each other over theatre rehearsals of his play No Thoroughfare, the movie follows the couple's gradual romance in the face of society's conventions, which leave Nelly forgotten in the shade of the writer's public life.
That respectable Victorian veneer spreads to Fiennes' direction, swapping his hectic Coriolanus helming for a calmer,...
- 2/6/2014
- by sarahd
- Den of Geek
Director: Ralph Fiennes; Screenwriter: Abi Morgan; Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Michelle Fairley; Running time: 111 mins; Certificate: 12A
Ralph Fiennes directs himself in a smudgy portrait of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of his young mistress Nelly Ternan. As this so-called invisible woman, Felicity Jones has great presence and yet the passion that would drive Dickens to compromise his moral standing is never fully expressed and the "great man" remains a remote figure.
Ironically, the story (based on Claire Tomalin's biography of Nelly) begins with a Dickens quote, observing that "every human creature is a profound secret and mystery to every other". The intimacy that develops between Dickens and Nelly doesn't disprove this. When she first steps into his life - performing in a show written by his friend and fellow scribe Wilkie Collins (Tom Hollander) - he only takes notice when she delivers...
Ralph Fiennes directs himself in a smudgy portrait of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of his young mistress Nelly Ternan. As this so-called invisible woman, Felicity Jones has great presence and yet the passion that would drive Dickens to compromise his moral standing is never fully expressed and the "great man" remains a remote figure.
Ironically, the story (based on Claire Tomalin's biography of Nelly) begins with a Dickens quote, observing that "every human creature is a profound secret and mystery to every other". The intimacy that develops between Dickens and Nelly doesn't disprove this. When she first steps into his life - performing in a show written by his friend and fellow scribe Wilkie Collins (Tom Hollander) - he only takes notice when she delivers...
- 2/6/2014
- Digital Spy
As the film of her biography of The Invisible Woman comes to the big screen, Claire Tomalin reveals what it feels like to have your book adapted
Most writers can tell stories of how their books failed to be made into films. I had forgotten until I looked up old notes that I sold the film rights of my first book, a life of Mary Wollstonecraft: there was a lunch, a contract, a small sum of money, then nothing. Much the same happened with Mrs Jordan's Profession: a lot of interest and excitement, then it fizzled out (twice). And again with my life of Pepys. For years The Invisible Woman seemed destined to be yet another unmade film.
Biographies are, in their nature, far more difficult to make into films than novels, because novels come with plots constructed and dialogue written, whereas I don't invent dialogue for my subjects or plot their lives for them.
Most writers can tell stories of how their books failed to be made into films. I had forgotten until I looked up old notes that I sold the film rights of my first book, a life of Mary Wollstonecraft: there was a lunch, a contract, a small sum of money, then nothing. Much the same happened with Mrs Jordan's Profession: a lot of interest and excitement, then it fizzled out (twice). And again with my life of Pepys. For years The Invisible Woman seemed destined to be yet another unmade film.
Biographies are, in their nature, far more difficult to make into films than novels, because novels come with plots constructed and dialogue written, whereas I don't invent dialogue for my subjects or plot their lives for them.
- 2/1/2014
- by Claire Tomalin
- The Guardian - Film News
After moving behind the camera in 2011 with a striking adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus Ralph Fiennes’ second directorial outing had its UK premiere this evening, following a very successful festival run.
The Invisible Woman has Fiennes taking on the role of Charles Dickens in a turbulent time in the author’s life, when he embarked on a secret affair with a young actress (played by Felicity Jones). The film has garnered positive reviews already and Fiennes’ charisma and aptitude as a director allows the film to breathe, something which was lacking in the suffocating miasma of Coriolanus.
Felicity Jones and he shine on screen and our chaps Colin Hart and Ben Mortimer took to the red carpet this evening to interview the cast and crew of The Invisible Woman.
We’ll be adding our interviews below, check back for more as the night goes on.
Ralph Fiennes
Felicity Jones
Writer...
The Invisible Woman has Fiennes taking on the role of Charles Dickens in a turbulent time in the author’s life, when he embarked on a secret affair with a young actress (played by Felicity Jones). The film has garnered positive reviews already and Fiennes’ charisma and aptitude as a director allows the film to breathe, something which was lacking in the suffocating miasma of Coriolanus.
Felicity Jones and he shine on screen and our chaps Colin Hart and Ben Mortimer took to the red carpet this evening to interview the cast and crew of The Invisible Woman.
We’ll be adding our interviews below, check back for more as the night goes on.
Ralph Fiennes
Felicity Jones
Writer...
- 1/27/2014
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
In “The Invisible Woman,” adapted from a novel by Claire Tomalin, actor-director Ralph Fiennes tackles the salacious tale of noted British author Charles Dickens, and his affair with Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), an actress much younger than his wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan). Recently, for ShockYa, Brent Simon had a chance to attend the film’s Los Angeles press day, and chat with Fiennes about pulling double duty in front of and behind the camera, as well as what he characterizes as Dickens’ “slightly sociopathological streak.” The conversation is excerpted below: Question: Charles Dickens, particularly within this story, seems like such a meaty role. Is it true you approached playing the part with [ Read More ]
The post Interview: Ralph Fiennes Talks The Invisible Woman, Juggling Acting and Directing appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Interview: Ralph Fiennes Talks The Invisible Woman, Juggling Acting and Directing appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 1/14/2014
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
The question at the heart of The Invisible Woman is whether a person who is “kept a secret” can be said to exist. That, at least, is the spin that screenwriter Abi Morgan (working from a book by Claire Tomalin) and director Ralph Fiennes put on the true story of Nelly Ternan (played by Felicity Jones), actress and mistress of Charles Dickens in the final decade of his life. At least, she seems to have been his mistress. We’re 99 percent sure. I just slogged through an entire book — The Great Charles Dickens Scandal, by Dickens biographer Michael Slater — that centers not on the relationship but on how it took more than a century for the whole story to come (partially) out. In our time, Joyce Maynard made a pile of money auctioning off her private correspondence with J.D. Salinger, who seduced her when she was 18 and he...
- 1/10/2014
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
Tales of infidelity make for easy drama on a quite general level, but when one of the parties involved is a huge celebrity, it tends to amplify the intrigue. Such is the case with “The Invisible Woman,” multi-hyphenate Ralph Fiennes’ second directorial effort, and the story of author Charles Dickens and his mistress, Ellen “Nelly” Ternan (Felicity Jones). Adapted from a meticulously researched 1991 book by Claire Tomalin, the film chronicles Dickens’ willful dissolution of his marriage to wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan), the mother of his 10 children, even in the face of the impossibility of a public relationship with Nelly. For ShockYa, Brent Simon had a chance recently to [ Read More ]
The post Exclusive: Joanna Scanlan Talks The Invisible Woman appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Exclusive: Joanna Scanlan Talks The Invisible Woman appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/30/2013
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Ralph Fiennes tackled Shakespeare for his directorial debut, and for his second effort he approaches the latter years in the life of Charles Dickens with The Invisible Woman, telling a story I'd never heard and one almost too unbelievable to be true. Yet, taking into account dramatic license, it actually is. Adapted from Claire Tomalin's book by Abi Morgan (Shame), this is an elegantly told story with some wonderful performances. Yet, for everything that's right about the film Fiennes has a tendency to linger on a scene or moment until all the air is sucked out of it and his approach is so traditional, following what almost seems like the "Paint by Numbers" book on period pieces, the film doesn't really have an identity of its own. This doesn't make it bad per se, but it does prevent it from rising up and being something truly outstanding. Set in...
- 12/27/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Continuing our look ahead to the big releases of 2014, we preview the 10 awards contenders released in the UK in the crucial first two months of the year
• 2014 preview: sci-fi
• 2014 preview: comedies
• 2014 preview: drama
• 2014 preview: romance
12 Years a Slave
When Steve McQueen's unflinching, unforgettable deep south slavery epic premiered at Telluride and Toronto in September, pundits identified it immediately as the likely big victor at March's Oscars. Despite young pretenders Gravity and plucky upstart American Hustle, that still looks likely to be the case. This is a film that's impossible to ignore, a challenge not to be moved by.
Out in the UK on 10 January
• First look review: 12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street
The first surprise of Martin Scorsese's latest team-up with Leonardo DiCaprio is that it's an out-and-out comedy, full of smackhead slapstick and dwarf-chucking japery. The second is that it's really, really funny, even...
• 2014 preview: sci-fi
• 2014 preview: comedies
• 2014 preview: drama
• 2014 preview: romance
12 Years a Slave
When Steve McQueen's unflinching, unforgettable deep south slavery epic premiered at Telluride and Toronto in September, pundits identified it immediately as the likely big victor at March's Oscars. Despite young pretenders Gravity and plucky upstart American Hustle, that still looks likely to be the case. This is a film that's impossible to ignore, a challenge not to be moved by.
Out in the UK on 10 January
• First look review: 12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street
The first surprise of Martin Scorsese's latest team-up with Leonardo DiCaprio is that it's an out-and-out comedy, full of smackhead slapstick and dwarf-chucking japery. The second is that it's really, really funny, even...
- 12/27/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Ralph Fiennes' quasi-modern adaptation of "Coriolanus," which marked the actor's directorial debut, was a sharply experimental take on the source material. For his second effort behind the camera, "The Invisible Woman," the director has taken a more classical approach. Adapting Claire Tomalin's book about Ellen Ternan, the actress most famous for her affair with Charles Dickens while nearly 30 years his junior, Fiennes takes on the Dickens role and coaxes a fantastic performance out of Felicity Jones as Ternan. Though suffering from dry patches and a fairly mannered approach, "The Invisible Woman" eventually makes its way to a powerful final third documenting an ultimately tragic romance in deeply felt terms. It's no Shakespeare, but Fiennes makes the story resonate all the same. Even when it drags, however, "The Invisible Woman" retains an impressive feel for its period. Cinematographer Rob Hardy ("Shadowdancer") captures the elegance of the period with warm colors that make.
- 12/25/2013
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
A tale of love complicated — if not thwarted — by prior responsibilities, intractable barriers, and the rigid high-society norms that frustrate its Victorian characters' attempts to live as they so desperately want, The Invisible Woman finds Ralph Fiennes proving as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it. Fiennes's film, his second as director, examines the secret love affair between Charles Dickens (Fiennes) and young actress Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), with a script (by Abi Morgan) based on Claire Tomalin's nonfiction study of the affair. The story comes in flashbacks: Nelly — now married and with child — remembering the bond she shared with the great author when she was just 18, a relationship that began after she and her sisters, guided by...
- 12/25/2013
- Village Voice
In Plain Sight: Great Expectations for Fiennes’ Sophomore Effort
After his brash, testosterone-fueled directorial debut Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes fares far better with the quieter, chest-heaving illicit love story of The Invisible Woman. Based on Claire Tomalin’s biography of Nelly Ternan, (who may have been Charles Dickens’ muse for the novel Great Expectations), the film centers on Dickens’ (Ralph Fiennes) torrid extramarital affair with Ternan (Felicity Jones), the details of which are unfolded in flashbacks throughout the film. Exquisitely crafted and featuring a fierce standout performance by Jones, the film is a solid sophomore item from an actor accomplishing more than a will to flex his directing muscles or switch up genres, but demonstrate a strong knack for adapting classic fiction.
The film’s central narrative takes place in 1857, whereupon young actress Nelly Ternan captures the attention of married famous author and playwright Charles Dickens. Despite protestations from her mother...
After his brash, testosterone-fueled directorial debut Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes fares far better with the quieter, chest-heaving illicit love story of The Invisible Woman. Based on Claire Tomalin’s biography of Nelly Ternan, (who may have been Charles Dickens’ muse for the novel Great Expectations), the film centers on Dickens’ (Ralph Fiennes) torrid extramarital affair with Ternan (Felicity Jones), the details of which are unfolded in flashbacks throughout the film. Exquisitely crafted and featuring a fierce standout performance by Jones, the film is a solid sophomore item from an actor accomplishing more than a will to flex his directing muscles or switch up genres, but demonstrate a strong knack for adapting classic fiction.
The film’s central narrative takes place in 1857, whereupon young actress Nelly Ternan captures the attention of married famous author and playwright Charles Dickens. Despite protestations from her mother...
- 12/24/2013
- by Leora Heilbronn
- IONCINEMA.com
‘The Invisible Woman’ Review: Visually Rich Film Lacks Emotion and Intelligence of Dickens’ Classics
*Editor’s note: Our review of The Invisible Woman originally ran during this year’s Nyff, but we’re re-posting it now as the film opens Christmas day in limited theatrical release.* It’s best to assume that when Ralph Fiennes took on the story of Charles Dickens (Fiennes) and his teen lover Ellen “Nelly” Ternan (Felicity Jones) for his The Invisible Woman, he didn’t intend for the film’s big takeaway to be that the beloved British author was basically a big jerk, at least when it came to matters of the heart. And yet, that’s the unexpected result of the apparently fact-based tale, a “romance” devoid of emotion that fails to capture any of the spirit or intelligence of Dickens’ own works. While the film has some very compelling source material, including a book by Claire Tomalin and a script from Abi Morgan (who penned the wonderful Shame and the laughably bad The Iron Lady...
- 12/24/2013
- by Kate Erbland
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The Invisible Woman Sony Pictures Classics Director: Ralph Fiennes Screenwriter: Abi Morgan, based on Claire Tomalin’s book “The Invisible Woman” Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, Tom Burke, John Kavanagh Screened at: Sony, NYC, 11/15/13 Opens: December 25, 2013 Middle school students are introduced to Charles Dickens usually through only one of his novels—“A Tale of Two Cities”—perhaps because that’s his most accessible and bloody work. While Dickens wrote about Paris and London, he is most familiar with England’s capital and with Manchester, two cities that produced his plays. He would have been a happier man, though, if he had moved to Paris, gay Paree as [ Read More ]
The post The Invisible Woman Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Invisible Woman Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/23/2013
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
As our own Oli Lyttleton pointed out in his under/over selections, Ralph Fiennes (starring and directing) has a new movie coming out this month that is really quite brilliant and barely anybody is talking about. And that film is "The Invisible Woman." It's based on the real-life affair Charles Dickens had with a young actress who served the author in one of his theatrical productions, and is based on the nonfiction book (of the same title) by Claire Tomalin. We were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to the Invisible Woman herself, Felicity Jones, about what it was like playing this forgotten historical figure, what additional research she did on her own, and whether or not she can tell us anything about what she's up to in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Catching the film at the Hamptons International Film Festival earlier this year, I marveled at how, exactly,...
- 12/19/2013
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
Most of us bear at least some passing knowledge of classics like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations or that seasonal standby, A Christmas Carol. But how much do we know about the genius who created them? In The Invisible Woman, opening on Dec. 25, Ralph Fiennes sets about turning Charles Dickens -- who over the centuries has calcified into more of a literary brand-name than anything else -- into a flesh-and-blood figure grappling with all-too-human problems. Fiennes' sophomore directorial effort, based on a 1990 biography by Claire Tomalin, details a scandalous chapter in the author's life, when, at
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- 12/17/2013
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Watch 4 new clips from Sony Pictures Classics' The Invisible Woman, starring and directed by Ralph Fiennes, as well as Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, Charlotte Hope, Jonathan Harden, Laurence Spellman and Michael Marcus. The drama opens in theaters on December 25th, 2013, and is scripted by Abi Morgan from the novel by Claire Tomalin. Producing are Christian Baute, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Stewart Mackinnon and Gabrielle Tana. Nelly (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 (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...
- 12/11/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Title: The Invisible Woman Director: Ralph Fiennes Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, Joanna Scanlan, Perdita Weeks, Amanda Hale, Tom Burke, John Kavangh, Michael Marcus. Claire Tomalin’s book ‘The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens’ lands on the silver screen, through the direction of the eclectic Ralph Fiennes. A woman (Felicity Jones) strides across the deserted beach in 1885′s Margate, England. She is Ellen, called Nelly, a married mother and school teacher, haunted by the memories of her youth. As an eighteen year old – when she was an actress who performed and toured with her mother and two sisters – she [ Read More ]
The post The Invisible Woman Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Invisible Woman Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/9/2013
- by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
- ShockYa
More than 100 prominent people from literature, the arts, science, academia, human rights and the law have signed a declaration urging newspaper and magazine publishers to embrace the royal charter system of press regulation.
They join people who have been victims of press misbehaviour in arguing that charter will give "vital protection to the vulnerable" from abuse of power by the press.
The signatories include broadcasters Stephen Fry, Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Rory Bremner. Actor Emma Thompson has signed, as have Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir Jonathan Miller.
Several film directors are on the list, such as Stephen Frears, Alan Parker, Mike Leigh, Beeban Kidron, Guy Ritchie, Stephen Daldry, Bill Forsyth, Peter Kosminsky, Terry Gilliam and Michael Apted.
Among the writers and playwrights are Alan Bennett, William Boyd, Alan Ayckbourn, Tom Stoppard, Monica Ali, Helen Fielding, Michael Frayn, Ian McEwan, A C Grayling, David Hare, Alan Hollinghurst, Jk Rowling, Salman Rushdie,...
They join people who have been victims of press misbehaviour in arguing that charter will give "vital protection to the vulnerable" from abuse of power by the press.
The signatories include broadcasters Stephen Fry, Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Rory Bremner. Actor Emma Thompson has signed, as have Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir Jonathan Miller.
Several film directors are on the list, such as Stephen Frears, Alan Parker, Mike Leigh, Beeban Kidron, Guy Ritchie, Stephen Daldry, Bill Forsyth, Peter Kosminsky, Terry Gilliam and Michael Apted.
Among the writers and playwrights are Alan Bennett, William Boyd, Alan Ayckbourn, Tom Stoppard, Monica Ali, Helen Fielding, Michael Frayn, Ian McEwan, A C Grayling, David Hare, Alan Hollinghurst, Jk Rowling, Salman Rushdie,...
- 11/29/2013
- by Roy Greenslade
- The Guardian - Film News
Sneak Peek footage and new images from the the BBC Films, Headline Pictures Corp. and Magnolia Mae Films production of actor/director Ralph Fiennes' "The Invisible Woman".
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens' and Felicity Jones, his lover 'Nelly Ternan'.
Also starring are Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens' and Felicity Jones, his lover 'Nelly Ternan'.
Also starring are Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
- 11/21/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman is easily one of the best films I’ve seen all year, and the only shame is that we’ve got to wait until February until it’s released in the UK.
The film has been very well received by critics since its Telluride and Toronto debuts, and has been continuing on the festival circuit in recent months – you can read our review from the Lff here – building momentum nicely in the run-up to the Oscars.
Fiennes is magnificent as Charles Dickens, and Felicity Jones is simply superb opposite him as his on-screen muse, Nelly Ternan, with whom Dickens shared a decade-long secret relationship.
With its release on our shores on the horizon, Lionsgate has launched a beautiful new quad poster, and a terrific new trailer to go along with it.
Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories,...
The film has been very well received by critics since its Telluride and Toronto debuts, and has been continuing on the festival circuit in recent months – you can read our review from the Lff here – building momentum nicely in the run-up to the Oscars.
Fiennes is magnificent as Charles Dickens, and Felicity Jones is simply superb opposite him as his on-screen muse, Nelly Ternan, with whom Dickens shared a decade-long secret relationship.
With its release on our shores on the horizon, Lionsgate has launched a beautiful new quad poster, and a terrific new trailer to go along with it.
Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories,...
- 11/20/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
By far one of the finest films I’ve seen all year, Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman is coming in as a strong contender in this year’s wide-open awards season, and after dazzling on the festival circuit in recent months, it will soon be heading into cinemas stateside over the very busy Christmas period.
Fiennes is absolutely fantastic in the male lead as Charles Dickens, and the chemistry that he and Felicity Jones share on screen is electric, with both very much worthy of Best Actor/Actress nods come January.
The film marks Fiennes’ sophomore feature in the director’s chair, and we’ve seen little from it since the first trailer launched last month. But now Sony Classics has released a handful of great new images, teasing a look at what is arguably the best period drama of the year.
Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher,...
Fiennes is absolutely fantastic in the male lead as Charles Dickens, and the chemistry that he and Felicity Jones share on screen is electric, with both very much worthy of Best Actor/Actress nods come January.
The film marks Fiennes’ sophomore feature in the director’s chair, and we’ve seen little from it since the first trailer launched last month. But now Sony Classics has released a handful of great new images, teasing a look at what is arguably the best period drama of the year.
Nelly (Felicity Jones), a happily-married mother and schoolteacher,...
- 11/12/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in this adaptation of Claire Tomalin's bestselling account of the relationship between Charles Dickens and his much younger lover. Felicity Jones impresses as Nelly, the youngest daughter of a respected acting family who becomes muse and lover to the greatest author of his age. But with Dickens rarely out of the public eye, reputation must always take precedence over adoration.
- 11/5/2013
- Sky Movies
From BBC Films, Headline Pictures Corp. and Magnolia Mae Films, Sneak Peek the first trailer from actor/director Ralph Fiennes' "The Invisible Woman".
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens' and Felicity Jones, his lover 'Nelly Ternan'.
Also starring are Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens' and Felicity Jones, his lover 'Nelly Ternan'.
Also starring are Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
- 10/29/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Check out the first poster for The Invisible Woman featuring Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones in the film which also stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander. Sony Pictures Classics distributes the drama which opens Christmas Day in Los Angeles and New York. Fiennes also directs from the screenplay by Abi Morgan, based on the book by Claire Tomalin. Gabrielle Tana produces. Nelly (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 (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...
- 10/29/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
★★☆☆☆ Revered British actor and director Ralph Fiennes returns to the London Film Festival this year with his second feature, The Invisible Woman (2013). Telling the story of the 'other woman' in Charles Dickens' life, Nelly Ternan, Fiennes appears to have improved his directing abilities little since Coriolanus (2011), offering up a tawdry biopic that's as stiff and stifling as a Victorian collar - and as frumpy as Queen Vic herself. Once again, Fiennes finds it only suitable to cast himself in the lead, this time as Dickens (ticking off yet another great historical figure), whilst the charming but miscast Felicity Jones plays the heroine of the piece.
We begin in Margate, 1883, as a black-clad Nell (Jones) stomps across the bleak sand dunes, returning to a boarding school that's busy preparing for a performance of one of Dickens' lesser-known plays, entitled No Thoroughfare. We then cut to Manchester, some years earlier. Here...
We begin in Margate, 1883, as a black-clad Nell (Jones) stomps across the bleak sand dunes, returning to a boarding school that's busy preparing for a performance of one of Dickens' lesser-known plays, entitled No Thoroughfare. We then cut to Manchester, some years earlier. Here...
- 10/20/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, here’s the first trailer for Sony Pictures Classics’ The Invisible Woman.
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.
Nelly, then Ellen Ternan, is 18-years old and is performing with her mother, Mrs. Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas), and sister Maria (Perdita Weeks), in Dickens’ adaptation of his friend Wilkie Collins’ (Tom Hollander) play, The Frozen Deep. With the eldest daughter Fanny (Amanda Hale), the Ternans are a cultured, lively family of touring actresses. Dickens is instantly drawn to them, particularly the young,...
Directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, here’s the first trailer for Sony Pictures Classics’ The Invisible Woman.
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.
Nelly, then Ellen Ternan, is 18-years old and is performing with her mother, Mrs. Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas), and sister Maria (Perdita Weeks), in Dickens’ adaptation of his friend Wilkie Collins’ (Tom Hollander) play, The Frozen Deep. With the eldest daughter Fanny (Amanda Hale), the Ternans are a cultured, lively family of touring actresses. Dickens is instantly drawn to them, particularly the young,...
- 10/7/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, Coriolanus, earned praise from audiences and critics alike, earning Fiennes a BAFTA nomination for his feature debut behind the camera. He returns this year with his anticipated sophomore film, The Invisible Woman. And with the drama coming off the back of positive early receptions on the festival circuit, about to have its UK premiere this month at the BFI London Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics has launched the first trailer.
Fiennes takes the lead opposite Felicity Jones as Charles Dickens and his muse, Nelly Ternan.
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.
Fiennes takes the lead opposite Felicity Jones as Charles Dickens and his muse, Nelly Ternan.
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.
- 10/7/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
From BBC Films, Headline Pictures Corp. and Magnolia Mae Films, Sneak Peek the first trailer from actor/director Ralph Fiennes' "The Invisible Woman".
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens', Felicity Jones as his lover 'Nelly Ternan', with Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
Fiennes plays author 'Charles Dickens', Felicity Jones as his lover 'Nelly Ternan', with Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Michelle Fairley.
The drama is based on author Claire Tomalin's book "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens".
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Invisible Woman"...
- 10/7/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sony Classics has premiered the first trailer for The Invisible Woman starring and directed by Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens alongside Felicity Jones in the titular role as a woman named Nelly, mistress to Dickens, telling the story of their relationship. I saw The Invisible Woman at the Toronto Film Festival last month and, for the most part, enjoyed it. There are a few problems here and there, but I quite enjoyed Fiennes and Joanna Scanlan as Dickens' wife, and Jones absolutely nails her role. In my review I wrote: Adapted from Claire Tomalin's book by Abi Morgan (Shame), this is an elegantly told story with some wonderful performances. Yet, for everything that's right about the film Fiennes has a tendency to linger on a scene or moment until all the air is sucked out of it and his approach is so traditional, following what almost seems like the...
- 10/4/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The trailer for director Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman is now online and viewable in the player below, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies . Fiennes also stars in the Sony Pictures Classics release alongside Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander. Most of Charles Dickens' acclaimed work as an author is well known, whether it's "Oliver Twist" or "A Tale of Two Cities" or "Great Expectations" or "A Christmas Carol," all stories that have been adapted to the big screen either directly or influencing other movies. What some may not know is that he had a mistress named Nelly Ternan for 13 years right up until his death, something accounted by Claire Tomalin in her book The Invisible Woman . The Invisible Woman hits theaters...
- 10/4/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Veteran critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for outstanding contribution to film culture.
Film critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for his contribution to film culture.
BFI chair Greg Dyke last night presented veteran critic French with the Fellowship at a ceremony at BFI Southbank.
Audience guests included Terence Davies, Douglas Slocombe, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, Jeremy Thomas, Maryam D’Abo , Hugh Hudson, and Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO.
Dyke said: “As one of the most important and influential British writers on film and film-related subjects of the last 50 years or more Philip has done more than perhaps any other writer to build a critical context for the informed watching and making of film.”
French commented: “It is a great honour indeed for me to be offered a BFI Fellowship, and I accept with gratitude and alacrity. The BFI has been an important part of my life ever since I first bought...
Film critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for his contribution to film culture.
BFI chair Greg Dyke last night presented veteran critic French with the Fellowship at a ceremony at BFI Southbank.
Audience guests included Terence Davies, Douglas Slocombe, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, Jeremy Thomas, Maryam D’Abo , Hugh Hudson, and Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO.
Dyke said: “As one of the most important and influential British writers on film and film-related subjects of the last 50 years or more Philip has done more than perhaps any other writer to build a critical context for the informed watching and making of film.”
French commented: “It is a great honour indeed for me to be offered a BFI Fellowship, and I accept with gratitude and alacrity. The BFI has been an important part of my life ever since I first bought...
- 9/26/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Veteran critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for outstanding contribution to film culture.
Film critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for his contribution to film culture.
BFI chair Greg Dyke last night presented veteran critic French with the Fellowship at a ceremony at BFI Southbank.
Audience guests included Terence Davies, Douglas Slocombe, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, Jeremy Thomas, Maryam D’Abo , Hugh Hudson, and Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO.
Dyke said: “As one of the most important and influential British writers on film and film-related subjects of the last 50 years or more Philip has done more than perhaps any other writer to build a critical context for the informed watching and making of film.”
French commented: “It is a great honour indeed for me to be offered a BFI Fellowship, and I accept with gratitude and alacrity. The BFI has been an important part of my life ever since I first bought...
Film critic Philip French has been awarded a BFI Fellowship for his contribution to film culture.
BFI chair Greg Dyke last night presented veteran critic French with the Fellowship at a ceremony at BFI Southbank.
Audience guests included Terence Davies, Douglas Slocombe, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, Jeremy Thomas, Maryam D’Abo , Hugh Hudson, and Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO.
Dyke said: “As one of the most important and influential British writers on film and film-related subjects of the last 50 years or more Philip has done more than perhaps any other writer to build a critical context for the informed watching and making of film.”
French commented: “It is a great honour indeed for me to be offered a BFI Fellowship, and I accept with gratitude and alacrity. The BFI has been an important part of my life ever since I first bought...
- 9/26/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Speaking after the Toronto film festival premiere of The Invisible Woman, actor/director says evidence strongly suggests Dickens's affair bore offspring, and reveals his own complex relationship with the writer
• First look review: The Invisible Woman
Contrary to his image as avuncular national treasure, Charles Dickens was a tormented figure, who likely fathered at least one illegitimate child and may have projected his affairs into his novels, says the actor Ralph Fiennes.
Speaking at the Toronto film festival the afternoon after the premiere of The Invisible Woman, in which Fiennes plays Dickens as he pursues an affair with much-younger actress Nelly Ternan, the actor said the gap between brand and man is much wider with Dickens than most people realise. "Dickens was tormented, he had huge extremes of emotion. We tend to get the sort of Christmas card Dickens – the smiling, jolly father-figure, entertaining the family. But when you read about him,...
• First look review: The Invisible Woman
Contrary to his image as avuncular national treasure, Charles Dickens was a tormented figure, who likely fathered at least one illegitimate child and may have projected his affairs into his novels, says the actor Ralph Fiennes.
Speaking at the Toronto film festival the afternoon after the premiere of The Invisible Woman, in which Fiennes plays Dickens as he pursues an affair with much-younger actress Nelly Ternan, the actor said the gap between brand and man is much wider with Dickens than most people realise. "Dickens was tormented, he had huge extremes of emotion. We tend to get the sort of Christmas card Dickens – the smiling, jolly father-figure, entertaining the family. But when you read about him,...
- 9/7/2013
- by Chris Michael
- The Guardian - Film News
Ralph Fiennes tackled Shakespeare for his directorial debut, and for his second effort he approaches the latter years in the life of Charles Dickens with The Invisible Woman, telling a story I'd never heard and one almost too unbelievable to be true. Yet, taking into account dramatic license, it actually is. Adapted from Claire Tomalin's book by Abi Morgan (Shame), this is an elegantly told story with some wonderful performances. Yet, for everything that's right about the film Fiennes has a tendency to linger on a scene or moment until all the air is sucked out of it and his approach is so traditional, following what almost seems like the "Paint by Numbers" book on period pieces, the film doesn't really have an identity of its own. This doesn't make it bad per se, but it does prevent it from rising up and being something truly outstanding. Set in...
- 9/7/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
For his second film as director Ralph Fiennes takes on British literary giant Charles Dickens and his secret love affair with a young wannabe actress. Fiennes, 51, plays the writer with Felicity Jones as the young muse and Joanna Scanlan as the writer’s wife and mother of his children. Kristen Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander also star in the Abi Morgan-penned script based on Claire Tomalin’s book of the same name. The divorced Fiennes, who makes his home in East London, talked to The Hollywood Reporter about his second time behind the lens, celebrity and secrets and whether he’d
read more...
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- 9/7/2013
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ralph Fiennes's second outing as director tells the affecting tale of Charles Dickens's relationship with Nelly Ternan
Ah – Margate. The wide open sands, the mewing gulls. The whipping breeze and the green sea. And, beyond the sands, of course, the dunes thick with grass, giving way to field upon field of rugged, rural idyll. And behind them, Margate itself: a chocolate box English village with quaint church and immaculate topiary.
The first scene of The Invisible Woman is the worst. Rarely has one location done such a poor impersonation of another as East Sussex does of Thanet at the start of Ralph Fiennes's second film behind the camera, as well as in front. Pity the poor tourists flooding off the train and on to the prom. They're going to think Margate's been even more buggered about in the past 150 years than it actually has been. More than...
Ah – Margate. The wide open sands, the mewing gulls. The whipping breeze and the green sea. And, beyond the sands, of course, the dunes thick with grass, giving way to field upon field of rugged, rural idyll. And behind them, Margate itself: a chocolate box English village with quaint church and immaculate topiary.
The first scene of The Invisible Woman is the worst. Rarely has one location done such a poor impersonation of another as East Sussex does of Thanet at the start of Ralph Fiennes's second film behind the camera, as well as in front. Pity the poor tourists flooding off the train and on to the prom. They're going to think Margate's been even more buggered about in the past 150 years than it actually has been. More than...
- 9/6/2013
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Canadian festival hopes to outshine Venice and Telluride with films including WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate
• Watch the trailer for The Fifth Estate
• Our gallery of the pick of the line-up
• Video: Toronto 2013 kicks off
In Venice, they're rolling up the red carpet as the sun sets on the 70th film festival. Four thousand miles west, they're unfurling it, as Toronto gears up to host its festival for the 37th year. Many critics are touting it as the finest film festival lineup in history – less a programme than a dry run for Oscars night.
The festival begins on Thursday evening with the world premiere of the WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate, partly based on the book by the Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, while Peter Capaldi is the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, David Thewlis is the investigative reporter Nick Davies and...
• Watch the trailer for The Fifth Estate
• Our gallery of the pick of the line-up
• Video: Toronto 2013 kicks off
In Venice, they're rolling up the red carpet as the sun sets on the 70th film festival. Four thousand miles west, they're unfurling it, as Toronto gears up to host its festival for the 37th year. Many critics are touting it as the finest film festival lineup in history – less a programme than a dry run for Oscars night.
The festival begins on Thursday evening with the world premiere of the WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate, partly based on the book by the Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, while Peter Capaldi is the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, David Thewlis is the investigative reporter Nick Davies and...
- 9/5/2013
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Ralph Fiennes' quasi-modern adaptation of "Coriolanus," which marked the actor's directorial debut, was a sharply experimental take on the source material. For his second effort behind the camera, "The Invisible Woman," the director has taken a more classical approach. Adapting Claire Tomalin's book about Ellen Ternan, the actress most famous for her affair with Charles Dickens while nearly 30 years his junior, Fiennes takes on the Dickens role and coaxes a fantastic performance out of Felicity Jones as Ternan. Though suffering from dry patches and a fairly mannered approach, "The Invisible Woman" eventually makes its way to a powerful final third documenting an ultimately tragic romance in deeply felt terms. It's no Shakespeare, but Fiennes makes the story resonate all the same. Even when it drags, however, "The Invisible Woman" retains an impressive feel for its period. Cinematographer Rob Hardy ("Shadowdancer") captures the elegance of the period with warm colors that make.
- 9/3/2013
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Telluride, Colo. - More than any other medium, the chemistry between two actors is paramount onscreen. The camera intimately reveals what the stage cannot and, ultimately, is most unforgiving if there is none. The latter, sadly, is the fate of Ralph Fiennes' impeccably realized "The Invisible Woman," which premiered at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival on Saturday. Based on Claire Tomalin's 1990 novel, the film is the true story of Ellen ("Nelly") Ternan, a young English woman who had a long affair with legendary writer Charles Dickens in the mid-19th Century. Ternan (Felicity Jones) was only 18-years-old when she met Dickens,...
- 9/2/2013
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
Cannes may not have been a triumph for British films, but hopes are high for Venice and Toronto with some promising movies due
A man-eating alien, set loose on the Scottish Highlands and played by a glamorous American star, may not look like a fitting figurehead for a major British film industry revival, but Scarlett Johansson's role in Jonathan Glazer's long-awaited Under the Skin is the most eye-catching offer in an extraordinary lineup of premieres next month.
These include a dozen promising British features, from costume drama to a comedy about a doppelganger to an honest look at middle-aged marriage, made by celebrated new film-makers such as Richard Ayoade, Steve McQueen and Ralph Fiennes as well as by established names including Stephen Frears, Terry Gilliam and Roger Michell. All have been selected for coveted screenings at the leading film festivals in Venice and Toronto, where festival directors are...
A man-eating alien, set loose on the Scottish Highlands and played by a glamorous American star, may not look like a fitting figurehead for a major British film industry revival, but Scarlett Johansson's role in Jonathan Glazer's long-awaited Under the Skin is the most eye-catching offer in an extraordinary lineup of premieres next month.
These include a dozen promising British features, from costume drama to a comedy about a doppelganger to an honest look at middle-aged marriage, made by celebrated new film-makers such as Richard Ayoade, Steve McQueen and Ralph Fiennes as well as by established names including Stephen Frears, Terry Gilliam and Roger Michell. All have been selected for coveted screenings at the leading film festivals in Venice and Toronto, where festival directors are...
- 8/10/2013
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
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