When Does "The Man Who Invented Christmas" (2017) Take Place?
"The Man Who Invented Christmas" is a historical fiction film written by Susan Coyne that released November 22nd, 2017. So when is "The Man Who Invented Christmas" set?
It takes place in the year:
We know this because it depicts the inspiration, pitching, and creation of the real-world writer Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) famous novella "A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas" (1843). Since the novella was published in late 1843 AD, Dickens was known for speedy writing, and his publishers wanted the story out in time for the Christmas holiday, the majority of the movie occurs within the calendar year of 1843 AD. Real-world publisher Edward Chapman (1804-1880) says at one point quite early, "We are already halfway through October." That makes the hilarious pitch session sometime in mid October of 1843 AD.
1843 AD
We know this because it depicts the inspiration, pitching, and creation of the real-world writer Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) famous novella "A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas" (1843). Since the novella was published in late 1843 AD, Dickens was known for speedy writing, and his publishers wanted the story out in time for the Christmas holiday, the majority of the movie occurs within the calendar year of 1843 AD. Real-world publisher Edward Chapman (1804-1880) says at one point quite early, "We are already halfway through October." That makes the hilarious pitch session sometime in mid October of 1843 AD.
Furthermore, the main action begins with a white-on-black title card that reads: "London, October 1943".
More specifically, the narrative's conclusion depicts the release of the book on December 19th, 1843 AD and that means the rest must take place in the weeks leading to this so some of the scenes must also fall in November of 1843 AD before ending in December of 1843 AD.
Additionally, there is a quick prologue in which Charles is lavishly celebrated by his American readers. The real-world Dickens did arrive in the United States of America for a long tour on January 22nd, 1842 AD before leaving to return home to England in June of 1842 AD. It is believed he arrived in New York City on February 12th, 1842 AD and he spent a month in NYC until March 5th, 1842 AD. A grand celebration was thrown for him called the Boz Ball (after Dickens' early pen-name Boz) on the night of February 14th, 1842 AD in the real world. He returned to the US in November of 1867 AD but that was after and not before the publication of "A Christmas Carol" in December of 1843 AD. So it is probably February (though possibly early March) of 1842 AD in the prologue.
Furthermore, the prologue begins with another white-on-black title card reading "New York City, 1842". The other title card actually says, "London, October 1943 16 months... and three flops later..." That would put this prologue in June of 1842 AD when he passed through the Big Apple again with far less grand celebrations from June 1st, 1842 AD to June 7th, 1842 AD just before he set sail for London.
10.1,843 - 16 months = 6.1,842.
Finally, there are five short flashbacks to Dickens' childhood and, though the first is technically unplaceable, they all seem to depict the beginning of a real-world dark period in Charles Dickens' childhood that commenced in 1824 AD. So the last four can be placed in 1824 AD and the first can be said to seem to be before 1824 AD.
