'Effie Gray's Dakota Fanning Is Frustrated

"I detest parties," says John Ruskin in this exclusive clip from Emma Thompson's Effie Gray . In her original screenplay, Thompson explores the world of Victorian society through the true story of Effie Gray and her marriage to renowned art critic John Ruskin. Though many marriages at the turn of the century seemed pleasant enough, Thompson exposes a secret world of unrequited passion underneath the couple's smiles for society. What happens if a young woman, in the sexual prime of her life, is starved for physical attention and lusts after a man who isn't her husband?

The film is set in an era where divorce was not an option, and courtship was brief and impersonal, leaving Effie Gray to tolerate her marriage for the sake of keeping up appearances, for it was simply what was done at the time. Emma Thompson herself stars, along with Dakota Fanning in the title role and Tom Sturridge, David Suchet, Sir Derek Jakobi, Claudia Cardinale and others making up the ensemble cast.

The clip shows Effie Gray and her much older husband traveling to Venice, hobnobbing with other important art figures over dinner.

Effie Gray opens in theaters on April 3rd. Watch the clip below:

Image: Sovereign Films