Notes on a Scandal
by Richard Eyre
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew Simpson, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Michael Maloney, Tom GeorgesonDirector: Richard Eyre
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Chris Menges
Editor: Antonia Van Drimmelen
Producer: Redmond Morris
Producer: Robert Fox
Producer: Scott Rudin
Writer: Patrick Marber
Writer: Zoe Heller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
Published: 2007-04-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Notes on a Scandal
Movie Review: Dench and Blanchett Headline the Best Thriller of the Year
Summary: 5 Stars
How can any film with both Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett be bad? And "notes on a Scandal" is very close to being a brilliant thriller.
Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a longtime history teacher at a private middle school in a London suburb, watches the children return for another year of institutionalized baby sitting. They are a randy lot she generally dislikes. She also notices Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), the new art teacher, arrive and decides to befriend her, help her get through the school year and cope with the rowdy children who are more interested in smoking, fighting and having sex. Sheba returns the favor and invites Barbara to Sunday Lunch. The older teacher is thrilled to have some "alone time" with her new friend and expects a quiet afternoon alone. But she is surprised to find Sheba is married to Richard (Bill Nighy), they have a teenage daughter, Polly (Juno Temple) and a son, Ben (Max Lewis) who has Down 's syndrome. Sheba and Richard invite her into the middle of their lives and Sheba also begins to confide in Barbara, telling her her secrets, her dreams and her disappointments. Barbara secretly hopes for, longs for, something more and when she spots Sheba sleeping with one of her students, Steven Connelly (Andrew Simpson), she suspects she may have found the way to get what she desires.
Written by Patrick Marber ("Closer") and directed by Richard Eyre ("Iris"), "Notes on a Scandal" is the first film in a long time to use thriller elements in a film written by, about and for adults. The characters may make some childish choices, but the filmmakers never treat the audience with the same disdain.
Judi Dench plays perhaps the most repressed Lesbian in film history. As Barbara, she has few friends and little interaction with her family, preferring to spend time at home with her cat and writing in her journal. As she writes extensively in these bound notebooks, reading from them to narrate the film, we learn a little about her previous relationships; she seems attracted to women who don't return her affections. Her relationship with Sheba would probably end in the same way, with court action, but Barbara learns of Sheba's affair with one of her students providing Barbara with a light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps, just perhaps, she might be able to use that to attain the relationship she has so long desired.
It is this desperation, and what happens when things go wrong, that fuels the thriller elements of "Notes". Barbara is so repressed, so desperate, we don't know what she might do to attain this new relationship she craves.
And they way she uses this knowledge works and helps make the film all the more memorable.
Because Barbara provides the narration, reading from her journals, we learn things about her character other people do not know. I found myself watching the film thinking "No, don't do that. Don't you see what she is doing?" This doesn't happen that often. The writing and acting so affected me, I was rooting for certain characters, hoping they would do certain things. And this happened because of the narration. Because we learn things other characters don't know, we become a participant in the story. We can see the mistakes characters are making and hope and wish they will make the right choices because they have become so real we care for them.
Cate Blanchett has the less showy, but no less important role of Sheba. What Blanchett does is make this role so much more than an innocent victim or bystander. Because Sheba so readily tells Barbara all of her secrets, she reveals a lot. She is a bit adrift, needs some companionship, perhaps her marriage and family isn't everything she had hoped for. She essentially gives Barbara everything the older woman thinks she needs to start a relationship. Sheba does this unknowingly, leading to those moments of "Oh no, don't do that", allowing Blanchett to reveal how trusting her character is.
But Sheba isn't a saint. Married to her former professor (Nighy), who is a good twenty years her senior, she has two children. As she states, after ten years of caring for Ben and the rest of the family, she needs new challenges, which leads to the teaching job. Apparently, she also needs new loving, which leads to her affair with Stephen (Simpson), one of her 15 year old students. This affair is portrayed well, thoughtfully and painstakingly. We get a real feel for what draws Sheba to this relationship, why they continue to see each other, what makes it last. It also shows how flawed her character is. The filmmakers challenge us to like her character and we feel for her, sympathy, loathing and even pity.
Blanchett and Dench so completely inhabit their characters it would be difficult to not believe they were real. I have never seen Dench look so dour, so unhappy, so unfulfilled. She looks like she has led an unhappy life and the one time she wears any make-up, it appears completely unnatural to her character. Blanchett appears uncomfortable and vulnerable, unhappy in her own skin. These are two of the best actresses working today, at the height of their craft and skills.
Bill Nighy is also very good. He is usually cast in flamboyant, jokey roles, like the fading rock singer in "Love, Actually"; he is a bit like the British Christopher Walken, but he can take on challenging dramatic roles. Richard is a loving, supportive husband but his anger is palpable when he finds out what his wife has done. The resolution of this crisis is also handled well and is very believable.
Part of the beauty of "Notes" is how the tension escalates. Eyre and Marber reveal little bits of the characters as we go along, manipulating our feelings about these characters. One moment, we hate Barbara, then we start to feel sad for her. One moment, we think Sheba is a great mother, then we hate her for having an affair with a 15 year old. Because the filmmakers have laid the groundwork so well, we can see the road leading to certain missteps and watch as the consequences play out in a believable way. All of these elements - great acting, crisp writing, taut direction - blend together to create one of the best films of the year.
Summary of Notes on a Scandal
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