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There may be corsets, posh frocks and grand manor houses, but Effie Gray is far from your typical period romp. Scripted by (and co-starring) Emma Thompson, it follows Dakota Fanning as impoverished teen Effie, who’s wed to snooty art critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise) despite the age gap.

Part Victorian biopic, part domestic drama, Richard Laxton’s painterly film combines the gothic shadows of Hitchcock’s Rebecca with the gut-wrenching romance of A Royal Affair . The result is dark and offbeat, but as a murky anti-romance, Gray is undeniably effective.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.