I normally love a good period drama. I also love Dickens (read all his novels and short stories). However, this film doesn't work for me. The film is based on Claire Tomalin's book which relies a great deal on supposition. There is not much primary source material about the affair. So you watch this thinking this is the way it was... but nothing can truly back up these assumptions. Why is it we want to tear down those writers, artists, and others who are dead and cannot speak for their actions. The film makes Dickens to be a cruel person towards his wife and his mistress. Perhaps he was, but why do we care? This was his personal life and has nothing to do with his writing. I Also found the jumping back and forth too distracting. Felicity Jones was miscast. I would not recommend this film.

it is only a sketch about a significant episode from Charles Dickens life. but that status is its basic virtue. because it not propose verdicts, conclusions or points of view. only delicates lines from a period, a life and a relationship. that graceful manner to propose only few points for public gives force and charm to a story who seems be one from many others. but it remains unique because transforms the reading books, the myths and the portraits, the adaptations of his novels, his biography in field of precious nuances. Felicity Jones does an admirable work. the states of a young woman front with her hero, the vulnerabilities and the need to define an ambiguous status, the memories as parts not from a biography but as tools for define the present are virtues of a film who , as sketch of a sentimental affairs, is an useful sketch for discover an universe.

Dull and unengaging, despite the cast.The true story of how, in later life, Charles Dickens (played by Ralph Fiennes), while married, becomes infatuated with a younger woman, Nelly (played by Felicity Jones). The movie follows their relationship.On the plus side, this isn't your usual syrupy-sweet, trite romance. There is a degree of vulnerability on both sides, and it's not all wine-and-roses. However, the story never really grabs you. It just seems to drift along with the only telling scene being the final one involving Felicity Jones.On that note, Felicity Jones is wonderful (as always) as Nelly. Ralph Fiennes is solid as Charles Dickens. Good support from Kristen Scott Thomas.

With the use of wonderful art direction and costume design The Invisible Woman manages to capture the essence of the late Victorian period, as the film explores a fascinating romantic relationship that developed away from the limelight during the height of Charles Dickens's career. The story is told through the eyes of his mistress Nelly, who reminisces about her time with Dickens, and with the use of elegant transitions between the two timelines one is offered an interesting glimpse into the personal life of the great author, well depicted by Ralph Fiennes. A noticeable feature is the film's unique pace, which could be considered slow by some, as it is designed in a gentle and subtle manner, thus matching the intimacy of the tender affair that is explored. Sadly though, one is primarily left with the feeling that the film does not offer enough, as The Invisible Woman deals with merely a fraction of the complex dynamic between Dickens and Nelly, and the audience is ultimately required to imagine and speculate about the true nature and passion of Dickens's secret relationship.