Notes on a Scandal
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Movie Reviews of Notes on a Scandal
Movie Review: "But, oh, but what marvellous intensity it is!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Notes On A Scandal packs action, intrigue, secrets and outstanding acting into a dramatic thriller to keep you keenly interested, to say the least. It's an excellent film; the script and acting combine to draw you into the plot, making you care about the characters to a degree that you normally don't. The choreography shines bright in crowd scenes and the scenes filmed inside the school; and the cinematography lacks nothing whatsoever. Notes On A Scandal is powerful; and it's not for the faint of heart nor is it a "family" film.
When the action begins, we quickly meet both Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) and Barbara Covett (Dame Judi Dench) who work at Saint George's School somewhere in England. Sheba is a new art teacher; and her youth and inexperience show through pretty clearly when the rather astute Barbara easily sizes her up. We also come to see that Barbara is a pretty tough cookie at the school who teaches no nonsense history classes. Barbara leads a rather lonely life since her last relationship with a woman named Jennifer ended; she lives with her old cat in an apartment and keeps a diary with lengthy entries and gold stars pasted into the diary as well. In addition, Barbara has her eyes on Sheba as a possible romantic interest although no one in the school is aware of this.
Sheba, trying to be friendly and fit in with her new colleagues, invites Barbara over to her home for lunch one Sunday afternoon. Barbara meets Sheba's family: her older husband Richard (Bill Nighy), her daughter Polly (Juno Temple) and Sheba's son Ben (Max Lewis) who has Down's Syndrome. At first Barbara isn't completely sure how to approach Sheba to trap her for her own; but one night Barbara accidentally witnesses Sheba and a student named Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson) sharing romantic time together. Barbara gets Sheba to confess all to her; Barbara now has all the information she needs to be able to bully, manipulate and possibly even blackmail Sheba into a more romantic relationship with her instead of Steven or her husband Richard.
The plot thickens. Although Sheba tries hard to end it with Steven; Steven won't take no for an answer and Barbara feels threatened and angry with Sheba for "betraying" her. Moreover, when Sheba goes to her son Ben's play instead of the vet where Barbara's cat is dying, Barbara looses her cool and finds a way to let another person from the school know that Sheba and Steven are a pair.
What will this all bring? So far, Sheba's husband, Barbara, Steven and even the man from the school all want a romantic relationship with Sheba. Who will Sheba choose--and what price will Sheba pay for having relations with an underage student? What about Barbara--does she find a way to force Sheba to give in and experience a romance with her? Will Sheba ever be able to tell Barbara off or get even with her? Watch and find out!
The DVD boasts some excellent extras. I particularly liked the "behind the scenes" featurette; and we get an optional running commentary by director Richard Eyre. There is another bonus entitled In Character with Cate Blanchett.
Notes On A Scandal reaches out to grab your attention from the word go and it never lets you go until the end. The superb acting enhances the quality of this motion picture all the more. I highly recommend this film for both fans of the actors in this movies and fans of thrillers with well thought out drama.
Movie Review: Riveting
Summary: 5 Stars
"Notes on a Scandal" stars Judi Dench as Barbara Covett, a lonely self-proclaimed "battleaxe" who teaches history at St. George's. When her attention is caught by the inexperienced teaching novice Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), Barbara is delighted that she's found a new "friend" - until she learns of the younger woman's affair with a fifteen-year-old pupil, and decides to blackmail Sheba into a situation somewhat more involved than simple friendship.
Directed by Richard Eyre, this surprisingly taut and fast-paced drama feels like much more than its 92 minutes (in the best possible sense) - Dench and Blanchett are to be congratulated on their completely absorbing characterisation and strength of performance. Blanchett's amazing in her role as the spineless, weak-willed Sheba Hart: here is a character guilty of both an extramarital affair and statutory rape, and yet Blanchett's skill as an actress keeps us from being completely alienated from Sheba Harte - on the contrary, there are scenes where we begin to pity her.
Dench is, as you'd expect, completely brilliant in her role as insular, hard-edged Barbara Covett. Devoid of pretty much all glamour, Dench's immersion in her character makes for the most convincing of performances: her terse cruelty in describing Sheba's children or her overweight co-workers is thrown into higher contrast by her palpable grief at the death of her beloved cat Portia. But it's in the scenes where Barbara tries to take control of Sheba's situation that Dench shines brightest, and we're completely in the thrall of this miserable, lonely, manipulative old woman whose delusional sense of love leads her to destroy her only friend.
Strong supporting cast nods go to Bill Nighy as Sheba's bohemian husband Richard, and to the excellent Andrew Simpson as underage Romeo Steven Connolly, and Richard Eyre's superlative direction comes to the fore in the violent, claustrophobic scenes of domestic dispute, or the floaty, dreamlike quality in the school scenes, mirroring Sheba's lust for her pupil or Barbara's infatuation with her colleague.
Direction and performances combine with an insanely clever use of music in the soundtrack to lock us in and keep us hurtling forward towards the film's chilling conclusion, and, like I said before, these 92 minutes will seem like longer - we feel like we've run a marathon along with these women. "Notes on a Scandal" is a superlative drama, and one that you won't be sorry you saw. It handles so many uncomfortable issues - like loneliness, internalised homophobia, obsession, statutory rape and extramarital sex - with such deft ambiguity and fluid confidence (as well as a perfectly pitched sense of humour) that you won't want it to end. This is a film that reminds me why I love films, it's just that good.
If Helen Mirren's given the Best Actress performance of the year in "The Queen" (another outstanding film, yes, but it's a huge shame that "Notes on a Scandal" is only on limited release), Dench is overlooked completely: she's easily the equal of Mirren and she has more ample support here, both before and behind the camera.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough, go and see it quickly before it disappears from theatres.
Movie Review: "IMMEDIATE, INCAUTIOUS INTIMACY" AND SEVERAL OTHER MISTAKES
Summary: 5 Stars
The "Notes" refer to diary logs made by Barbara, (Dame Judi Dench), a bitter, lonely, often malignant history teacher. She writes caustic, extremely judgemental comments about everybody. She seems to despise her colleagues and her students--and they don't seem to have any love for her. The viewer might not realize this at first, but Barbra's bitterness is really her own self-hatred turned outward; a tragic reaction to her own unbearable lonliness. When Barbara meets the new, young art teacher Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), she is annoyed by her, of course. But soon, Barbara becomes obsessed with Sheba. Later, she becomes Sheba's dangerously delusional stalker.
For her part, Sheba is no saint, either. 37 year old Sheba indulges in a reckless affair with a 15 year old student, impressively portrayed by Andrew Simmons; despite the fact that she has a good, comfortable life with her husband and children. In a DVD featurette, Blancett says she views "Notes" as "portraits of lonliness," and says of her character Sheba, "When people are that cut off from themselves, they create circumstances where they will be caught." Barbara discovers the affair; but rather than "tell" on Sheba, she decides to keep her "secret"; seeing this as the perfect "opportunity" to keep Sheba in her "debt" forever. In Barbara's mind, their "secret" will bond and bind them together and eventually she and Sheba will embark on a "life together." Sheba trusts Barbara at first, making the mistake of "immediate, incautious intimacy."
On several levels, "Notes" plays like "Fatal Attraction" with a lesbian twist. It's quite obvious to the viewer that Barbara, in addition to being bitter and unbearably lonely, is also an unfullfilled lesbian, although psychologically/emotionally, she would never identify herself as such. We later learn that Barbara was previously obsessed with Jennifer Dodd, another young teacher who filed a restraining order against her and left the school, presumably on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Family obligations prevent Sheba from helping Barbara in a crisis. Viewing this as a betrayal she will not tolerate, Barbara finally lets the "secret" out and all hell breaks loose, The film's final act is a series of emotional and often violent confrontations. In the smaller but important role of Sheba's husband Richard, Bill Nighy is outstanding in the scene where he explodes with rage over Sheba's affair. Barbara watches this scene from the top of a staircase, a small smile of satisfaction flashing briefly across her face. However, Barbara does not get off scot-free. She is forced to retire one year early. And, in the film's most memorable scene, Sheba discovers Barbara's diary, and Barbara's lengthy, calculated role in her undoing, and she lets Barbara HAVE IT, BUT GOOD, in a NO HOLDS BARRED confrontation!
With so much dramatic fireworks, it is somewhat surprising that director Richard Eyre offers such a lifeless and technical DVD commentary. He is, quite correctly, enamoured with his two leading ladies; both of whom give virtuoso performances. Cate Blancett is excellent. Dame Judi Dench is riveiting and phenominal. I give this first-rate psychological/emotional drama 5 stars and my highest recommendation.
Movie Review: "This month had been the most delicious part of my life...."
Summary: 5 Stars
A movie like Notes on a Scandal would not work if the performances are bad, and it's simply irresitable and captivating when it features two of the best female performances of the year. Having watched the trailer, I was instantly tempted to check out the brilliant veteran actress Judi Dench in what was considered to be the performance of her career in her rare outting with a villianous role.
The film is not a bit boring and it's very gradual how it all built up the intensity and excitment towards one of the most powerful and mesmerizing physical and verbal showdown between the victim/Blanchette and the vampire/Dench. I shall not reveal much about the plotline, because it's really not a complicated story to follow, it's the depths of the characters that interested me profoundly. It had explored the inner psycholoical beings of the two female characters and how they allow themselves to fall apart or become relentlessly vulnerable. I must say I am not sympathetic towards Blanchette/Sheba at all, but I do get to understand why she chose to have an affair with her 15 year old student knowing that there was going to be consquences and sabotages towards her entire family life. It must have someting to do with her own experience of marrying a much older man(Bill Nighy) when she was in her late teens. As a loney and manipulative older woman(Dench/Barbara) secretly scrutinizing the moral downfall of Sheba, and masterminding an elaborate plan to put her to the point of no return, the process had given her more joy than anything in life. Something is really wrong with this woman when she writes in her secret diary with thoughts about the delicate intenisity of two women being it the same room and that being involved with Sheba had been the most delicious part of her life....So do I find Barbara likeable? Yes, for a dramatic reason, but she's unforgivable at the same time, and she's been "long gone" in a mental way. Watching such mesmerizing performance from Dench reminded me of some other great psychopath characters such as the ones played Kathy Bates and Jack Nicolson. It really is nothing like what she's done before in her career and I don't know if any actress of her generation would be able to tackle such a heavy duty role, maybe Maggie Smith?
Bill Nighy did have a one big scene to work when he had the final confrontation with wife Sheba, but most of the time he was kind of a background character. The kid who seduced Sheba was brave and daring altogher. I didn't really understand his motive, maybe it's rebel thing.
On Oscar note: I would love to see Dench win the best actress award, because I am so taken by her performance and it's not like she's going to have another more challenging role considered she might retire soon. It's really amazing when an actress can make you love and hate her character at the same time. I still don't know why Blanchette is being "pushed" as candidate in the best supporting actress cateogory considered that she has equal amount of screentime as Dench, maybe the studio wants Dench to have more chance of winning.
Movie Review: An Intense, Powerful Story Ignited by Dench and Blanchett
Summary: 5 Stars
NOTES ON A SCANDAL invites the audience to read the diary of a very lonely, crusty, frumpy, acerbic history teacher Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) through the voice-over narrative throughout this challenging, harsh, but very brave cinematic version on the novel 'What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal' by Zoe Heller, brilliantly adapted for the screen by Patrick Marber. It is a success on every level - story, direction, cinematography, and especially acting.
Barbara Covett (Dench) is a fierce disciplinarian in a school populated by children who are more interested in drugs and misbehavior than in learning. She has no life except with her aging cat Portia, spending her lonely hours away from the classroom making entries into a journal. Into this icy atmosphere comes a new art teacher, the luminously beautiful free-spirited Sheba (very significantly short for Bathsheba!) Hart (Cate Blanchett). Barbara notices Sheba's presence at first with critical disdain then with fascination: Sheba is new to teaching, having 'wasted' her life as a potential artist by marrying too early her senior teacher Richard (Bill Nighy) and mothering two children, teenage Polly (Juno Temple) and Down's Syndrome Ben (Max Lewis), and now wanting to make something interesting of her life. Sheba enters into an affair with 15-year-old Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson), a lad who wins her attention first through sympathy ploy for his 'bad home life' and eventually conquers her better judgment by paying physical attention and gratification to her. Barbara secretly observes the couple en flagrant and lets her new friend know of her discovery of an act that is criminal.
The manner in which Barbara gains Sheba's attention by keeping Sheba's explosively dangerous behavior a shared secret leads to a fulfillment of Barbara's wish to not spend her life alone: she is in love with Sheba and will stop at nothing to have Sheba to herself. But when Sheba is unable to stop her sensual dalliance with Steven, Barbara begins a course of events that leads to destruction of all kinds. The journal entries tell it all in scrupulous detail.
The entire cast is superb, much to the credit of director Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty, Iris, The Ploughman's Lunch, and multiple television adaptations of classics). His sense of pacing the action is overwhelmingly fine. For this viewer the musical score by the gifted Philip Glass is successful in maintaining tension, but is far more mundane than his other scores and composing - and the music drowns the dialog far too often. But this is a minor flaw when compared to the intelligent, sensitive, subtle, completely credible performances by both Dench and Blanchett. They are the epitome of fine actors and watching them work is an awe-inspiring pleasure. The film deals with difficult subject matter but succeeds in steering clear of sensationalism to present the sad inner lives of two disparate yet similar women. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 07