Ralph Fiennes not only directs The Invisible Woman, but also plays its male lead, the author Charles Dickens, when at age 45 he became estranged from his wife Catherine - the mother of his 10 children - and fell deeply in love with the 18-year-old actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan (Felicity Jones).
The film (Fiennes's second as director, after Coriolanus) tells the story of that love affair, hushed up for fear the ensuing scandal would horrify the author's vast, admiring public.
It is accomplished with great elegance and poignancy, with an enjoyable and detailed evocation of the period.
Fiennes is excellent as Dickens, fizzing with charm, compassion and flashes of egotistical cruelty, and Jones is quietly powerful as Nelly.
There is much to relish, even though the prevailing stylistic restraint sometimes makes it feel as if the film has not fully mined the passion of the human heart. Of all dramas, there are few so savage as domestic ones.
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