8/10
A 19th Century Affair
29 December 2013
A jewel: the 19th century and Charles Dickens come alive in this jewel directed and starring Ralph Fiennes. The heavily garbed women, great sweeps of countryside, and living in little houses "in town," and even the poor and "fallen women" on the streets of London come to life. Charles Dickens too: a entertaining man in real life, not just in his fiction and plays. An interesting plot with sympathetic treatment: how could one have an affair in the 19th century, examined from every perspective: from the great man, who also loves his public - Dickens is a superstar - his best friend, Wilkie Collins, the mystery writer, who doesn't believe in the institution of marriage, the woman Dickens loves, her mother, the great man's wife, the whispering public, a non-judgmental vicar. Dickens seems a man for our own time. No wonder Fiennes wanted to bring him to life. Felicity Jones co-stars, and she brings virginal purity, and passion and ferocity at times to the part. A good acting company as well. The kind of production one expects from the British.
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