Trailer
Full Movie Online Streaming
The Invisible Woman is a 2013 British biographical drama film directed by Ralph Fiennes and starring Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander. Written by Abi Morgan, and based on the book The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin, the film is about the secret love affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, which lasted for thirteen years until his death in 1870. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 31 August 2013,[3] and was released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2014. The film received a Best Costume Design nomination (Michael O'Connor) at the 86th Academy Awards.
In 1857,[Note 1] eighteen-year-old English actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan (Felicity Jones) is noticed by forty-five-year-old writer Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) while she is performing at London's Haymarket Theatre. Soon after, he casts her, along with her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) and sister Maria (Perdita Weeks), in a performance of The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins at Dickens's Free Trade Hall in Manchester. At a party following the performance, the famous author and the actress share a brief moment alone.
Sometime later, Nelly and her family attend one of Dickens's readings at the Harrow Speech Room in London. Afterwards, Dickens is delighted to see Nelly again. Soon after, Dickens takes the Ternan family to Doncaster Racecourse and begins to spend more time with them. Having become disillusioned with his wife, who does not share his energy and passion for literature and ideas, Dickens cherishes his time with the young actress who shares his interests and passions. Nelly in turn loves spending time with the famous novelist.
One day, Dickens walks from his Gads Hill Place country home to East London to see Nelly perform in a play. Afterwards her mother invites him back to their modest cottage for a visit. Noticing the shared looks between Dickens and her daughter, Mrs. Ternan later cautions him that she cannot afford to put her daughter's reputation at risk. Dickens assures her that he has no intention of compromising her good name. After organizing a reading and fundraiser to benefit London's "fallen women" and their children, Dickens invites the Ternan family to his home, where Nelly examines with fascination the author's books, manuscripts, and writing instruments. When they are alone, they share details and secrets about their lives and upbringings, and the two grow closer.
Later, Mrs. Ternan confides to her daughter Maria her feelings about the growing bond between Nelly and Dickens, and that their relationship may offer Nelly the kind of stable future she would not find in the theatre, knowing that Nelly is not as talented as her sisters. Nelly overhears the conversation and is angered and confused by her mother's plans for her to become the mistress of a married man. Soon after, Dickens's wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) visits Nelly at her home to deliver a jewelled bracelet birthday gift from her husband, which was delivered to her by mistake.
After the birthday party, Dickens and Collins arrive and take her to the house that Collins shares with his mistress Caroline Graves (Michelle Fairley) and her daughter. There, Nelly sees the kind of arrangement Dickens may have in mind for her. Later in the carriage outside her cottage, she confronts Dickens about the suggested arrangement and objects to the idea of being his "whore". After apologizing and confessing that he no longer loves his wife, Dickens accompanies Nelly inside where he comforts her. Soon after, Dickens announces in The Times his "amicable" separation from his wife while boldly denying the rumours of an affair with Nelly. Dickens's wife and children are devastated by the news.
In the coming days, Nelly's mother assures her that he is an "honourable man", while Collins reminds her that he is a "great man" and urges her to break with old conventions. When she visits Dickens at his home, he assures her that he has broken with the past and shows her the manuscript of a new novel that he's just completed, Great Expectations. After reading it, she expresses her approval of the ending which does not bring Estella and Pip together. Dickens reads to her from the novel as if speaking directly to her:
You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since,—on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with ... Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil.[5]
Dickens and Nelly become lovers and she finds happiness as his mistress and companion. They spend time in France and soon she becomes pregnant, but the child dies during childbirth. After saving a lock of the child's hair, Dickens signs the death certificate "M. Charles Tringham". Shortly after returning to England from France in the spring of 1865, Dickens and Nelly board a train at Folkestone headed for London. Near Staplehurst in Kent, the train derails killing ten passengers. Dickens rescues Nelly, and then, with her encouragement, pretends that he was travelling alone, to avoid the scandal of it being known they were travelling together. Dickens leaves Nelly in the care of others, and tends to the injured and dying along the train. Nelly observes him retrieve a manuscript page of an episode of Our Mutual Friend on which he had been working.
In the coming years, Nelly remains his secret mistress until his death in 1870. In 1876, she marries Oxford graduate George Wharton Robinson, twelve years her junior. The couple have a son and runs a boys' school at Margate. While knowing that she knew Charles Dickens as a child, George does not suspect that she was his mistress. Only the Reverend Benham knows her secret. As she watches her son perform in a school play, she remembers the epilogue lines she spoke on stage in The Frozen Deep for Dickens:
This is a tale of woe, this is a tale of sorrow, a love denied, a love restored to live beyond tomorrow. Lest we think silence is the place to hide a heavy heart, remember to love and be loved is life itself, without which we are naught.
| The Invisible Woman | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
| |
| Directed by | Ralph Fiennes |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Abi Morgan |
| Based on | The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ilan Eshkeri |
| Cinematography | Rob Hardy |
| Edited by | Nicolas Gaster |
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release date
|
|
Running time
| 111 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £12 million[1] |
| Box office | $3.2 million[2] |
