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Back in 2011 we saw Ralph Fiennes’ directing debut in Coriolanus and last year we had our Dickens’ fix with Great Expectations, so this time we get both. For his second feature, Fiennes has chosen to make Claire Tomalin’s excellent book about Nelly Tiernan into THE INVISIBLE WOMAN, while starring as Charles Dickens himself. It’s all seen from Nelly’s point of view, looking back several years later, and Felicity Jones impresses in the role. And there’s strong support from the likes of festival favourite Kristin Scott-Thomas as Nelly’s actress mother, and Tom Hollander as Wilkie Collins.
It’s all waistcoats, bustles and long walks, as the teenage Nelly admits she’s a huge fan of Dickens’ work, while he loves her youth and laps up her adoration. Indeed, he knows that the public’s adoration in general is key, and after performing David Copperfield he coolly admits: “I am told these readings double sales.” We see the philanthropic, socially aware and campaigning side of the author too, just as he’s neglecting his own family, and his wife (Joanna Scanlon) learns of their separation in The Times. For Dickens aficionados (myself included) this will only whet their appetite for further explorations of their idol’s inspiration and psychology.
Not to be outdone by his posh thespian brethren, Steve Coogan takes a dual responsibility in PHILOMENA, both writing the screenplay and starring as reporter Martin Sixsmith. He wisely leaves the directing to Stephen Frears though. This is the heartbreaking true story of a young girl, Philomena, who was pushed into an Irish Mother and Baby Home when she fell pregnant, then had her baby son taken away from her. Judi Dench plays Philomena decades later, grown up and still grieving. She wonders what became of her beloved boy, and despite Sixsmith’s cynicism and increased bitterness after his recent sacking, he agrees to help her find her son and write their story. Coogan and Dench are just right as the awkward couple, as they embark on a journey that starts in a convent cloaked in secrecy, where the nuns feed them untruths, and goes to Washington DC and beyond. Another tear-jerker, I confess.
In HALF A YELLOW SUN, based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Orange prize-winning novel, Chiwetel Ejiofor takes another lead role, as a revolutionary with a liking for alcohol and danger, and a roving eye. First-time director Biyi Bandele gets to the heart of this epic story of post-colonial Nigerian civil war through the parallel tales of two well-heeled sisters, Olanna and Kainene, beautifully played by Thandie Newton and Anika Noni Rose. We are pulled into their struggle, as their fortunes ebb and flow, tribes turn on each other, and violence gnaws away at the heart of their homeland. Plaudits all round.
There’s another side of Nigerian culture in Destiny Ekaragha’s broad comedy GONE TOO FAR, which had its world premiere at the festival. Adapted by Bola Agbaje from her own stage play, this is a laugh-out-loud look at cultural differences between brothers from Peckham (Yemi) and Nigeria (Iku), with the latter’s unwanted arrival and choice of footwear (socks with sandals) threatening Yemi’s street-cred – not to mention his burgeoning romance. Adolescent awkwardness, vanities, jealousies and petty racial divisions all ring true, as does their archetypal Nigerian mum, berating and chasing after both her boys in her slippers. All wonderfully captured by cinematographer Stil Williams.
Go to page 4 for The Double, Enough Said and more…