Ralph Fiennes' first film as director was an grimy, gritty version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. As his follow-up, he has looked to another literary master in the shape of Charles Dickens, but this time he's focusing on the writer himself rather than one of his books in a story of Dickens' secret mistress, Nelly Ternan. Take a look at the new trailer.
The film finds Dickens (Fiennes himself) already at the height of his fame and with a considerable fortune, married to Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) and raising a brood of children. But when he meets Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), they strike up an affair - despite the frenzy of publicity that surrounds the wildly popular author wherever he goes. Hiding the affair from all but their closest friends - including Wilkie Collins (Tom Hollander) - and her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), Dickens and Ternan try to make the best of a twisted situation.
Once you get past Dickens' so-horrible-it's-hip-again beard, this has all the signs of a quality romantic drama. The Invisible Woman, who's no relation to Kevin Bacon or any other Invisible Man, hits cinemas on February 7.