Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist, was admired and adored by the British public. Through his cast of vivid and eccentric characters, Dickens’ readers were pretty much familiar with his ideas, values and ideals. But Dickens had a secret, and her name was Ellen (Nelly) Ternan. An actress, Ternan was 18 when she met Dickens, an unhappily married man of 45 with a brood of children. They were immediately drawn to each other, and mutual love blossomed.
Their romantic relationship, clandestine yet known, is the subject of The Invisible Woman, a period piece which opens in Toronto on Jan. 17.
Ralph Fiennes stars in and directs this quiet and compelling film, which is set in the last quarter of the 19th century. Fiennes, who in a memorable breakthrough role played a Nazi commandant in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, portrays Dickens here.
Rakishly goateed, and dressed stylishly in a frock coat, frilly white shirt and top hat, Fiennes`Dickens is a sartorially flamboyant, jolly, hard-working and even-tempered raconteur who`s mesmerized by the beauty and power of words. Throughout the film, he talks and talks — delivering lines as an actor in his own play, reading passages from his books, socializing with friends, raising funds for a hospital or courting Ternan, who would become his beloved mistress.
Ternan (Felicity Jones), of course, is the “ìnvisible woman.” Beautiful and smart, but not particularly gifted as an actress, she falls in love with Dickens, knowing full well that he will never be able to marry her. Concerned about her future, Ternan’s mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), an actress as well, tacitly encourages her to strengthen her budding friendship with Dickens. “Our profession is hard enough, even if you have talent,” she says, dropping a none too subtle hint.
Seeking solace in love, Dickens is like a ripe fruit ready to be picked. Catherine (Joanna Scanlan), his dull, buxom and domesticated wife, has given him children he dearly loves. But he has grown distant from Catherine, who fulfills him no longer. “She prefers to live outside the public glare,” he says. “She sees nothing and comprehends nothing.”
Ternan is different. Vivacious and lovely to behold, she understands and appreciates Dickens and his body of work. Catherine is fully aware of her husband’s infatuation, having received a ring in the mail he bought for Ternan. “You can’t keep a secret,” she says in a tense encounter with Ternan. “He is fond of you.”
Dickens’ romance with Ternan unfolds prudishly, in keeping with the restrained and almost repressed tone of the film. Together at last in the privacy of a darkened room, they stand tremulously close to each other, holding hands, sighing and nuzzling noses, but not yet kissing.
Recognizing the irrelevance of his marriage, Dickens publicly announces his separation from Catherine but denies his involvement with Ternan, prompting Ternan to say in exasperation, “My name is whispered with yours, yet I have nothing.”
None to eager to be a kept woman, she exclaims, “I did not realize I was to be your whore.”
Never at a loss for words, Dickens wins her over with his gift of the gab. “You are part of my existence,” he gushes, quoting a character in one of his novels and revelling in the notion of art imitating life.
Appearing in virtually every scene, Fiennes is the beating heart of The Invisible Woman. Jones, his co-star, is ravishing, but not in a cheap sexual way. Like the movie itself, she`s understated, giving less rather than more in a spirited performance.