Notes on a Scandal
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Movie Reviews of Notes on a Scandal
Movie Review: Catholic prep school wasn't like this!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having the seductive beauty of Cate Blanchett must be a nuisance; everyone wants to possess you.
Here, in NOTES ON A SCANDAL, the looks belong to Sheba Hart, the novice art teacher who's just joined the faculty of St. George's, an urban secondary school in the UK (perhaps in Eastbourne, where much of it was filmed). The narrator of the piece is Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), the frumpy, disliked, feared, old battleaxe of a history teacher, who despises her students and has, at first, only a condescending contempt for Sheba, her proletarian manner of dress, and her sexual attractiveness to the male teachers. Yet, after Barbara helps break up a fight between two of Hart's students, Sheba invites Covett over for dinner with the family, and the two become casual friends.
Hart's family is unexpectedly unusual. Sheba, at 37, is married to Richard (Bill Nighy), a man some 15-20 years her senior. The two have had two children together, "pocket princess" Saskia (Alice Bird) and Ben (Max Lewis), the latter afflicted with Down's Syndrome. But the excitement has gone out of the Hart marriage, and Sheba embarks on a professionally perilous sexual liaison, in this case with one of her 15-year old pupils, Steven (Andrew Simpson). Barbara discovers the affair and confronts Hart. However, professing solicitous friendship for Hart and a wish to protect the school's reputation, Covett vows to keep mum about the tawdry affair on the condition that Sheba end it immediately.
At first, the audience may take the plot at face value - the story of a female mentor taking sexual advantage of an underage student a la Mary Kay Letourneau and Debra LaFave. But, hang on a minute, the identity of a sexually and emotionally rapacious predator can be more insidious and less obvious. Soon, we see the darker side of Barbara, a bitter, lonely spinster physically unloved for so long that, as she puts it, Saturday nights are built around a visit to the launderette and the casual touch of a bus conductor sends a jolt of longing to her groin.
NOTES ON A SCANDAL can be seen as a bruising essay on the corrosiveness of isolation from the otherwise nurturing effects of human emotional and physical contact. This film is a two-woman show - Dench and Blanchett - and it would be inaccurate to state that either one supports the other. Both could get an Oscar nod for best performance in a leading role. (It could be a bountiful harvest of award nominations for Commonwealth actresses this year; besides Judi and Cate, Helen Mirren is superb as THE QUEEN.)
Perhaps the most chilling scene is the last involving two women sitting on a park bench. It's here that one may perceive Barbara as a sort of starving spider weaving her web to snare unsuspecting prey. On the other hand, where was the hot Cate-look-alike instructor when I was in high school? I was available for sordid sexploitation 24-7. Darn, some guys have all the luck!
Movie Review: Is There Anything These Ladies Can't Do?
Summary: 5 Stars
The list of cinema actors gifted with the ability to dig into virtually any script and make it Oscar-worthy territory without the aid of superstar status is a short one. Luckily for screenwriter Patrick Marber, the genius casting of acting powerhouses Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett in his "Notes On a Scandal" amplifies it to classic status.
From Zoë Heller's hit source novel, the film is a gripping, thoroughly entertaining study of obsession and alienation. It flirts with some trite clichés of the character-driven suspense genre, but in the hands of these actresses the averagely entertaining material takes a major upgrade.
Dench is Barbara Covett, a schoolteacher close to retirement who rules her classroom with a heavy hand, but otherwise lives an empty life, referring to her calendar as an "arctic wilderness." She is respected by her colleagues, but they keep their distance from the intimidating eccentric. Barbara is thus drawn immediately to the lovely new art teacher Sheba Hart, portrayed by Blanchett; a fly to be lured unwittingly into the ever-growing web of Barbara's topsy-turvy fantasy world that is well-documented in her long-winded diary entries. Dench is, as always, spellbinding, even delivering a few comedic one-line zingers with finesse in this otherwise twisted tale. It is impossible to pay attention to anything else while she is onscreen.
Barbara's inner dialogue sweeps the film along through its tight 90 minutes, revealing her disturbing preoccupation with Sheba, yet both she and her new friend remain unaware of the gravity of her mental roadblocks. They rise to the surface with a vengeance, however, when she catches Sheba committing a lewd act with an amorous 15 year-old named Patrick Connolly, played convincingly by Andrew Simpson. Shocked initially, she soon realizes her ability to exploit this vital information and take a position of power over her friend, nursing her own obsessions all the while.
Blanchett shines playing a character that could have easily been overshadowed by the imposing Barbara. Marber succeeds in making Sheba more than just the eye of Barbara's storm of obsession, but Blanchett carries her over the threshold to the multi-faceted level. Sure, Sheba may seem to an extremely lucky woman - striking good looks, a faithful, loving husband, two wonderful children (albeit one in need of extra attention due to a mental handicap), a fulfilling job and lack of financial worry - but nothing in her life is the stuff of storybooks. Underneath her skin, pent-up passion yearns to spring free - but will this very passion prove her undoing?
Both Barbara and Sheba have more in common than each other realizes. As Barbara demonstrates, playing cat and mouse is easy when you hold all the cards. An all-around entertaining film full of intrigue and rich characterization.
Movie Review: Dench and Blanchett Shine in a Devastating Look at an "Immediate Incautious Intimacy"
Summary: 5 Stars
There is genuine joy in watching two masterful actresses invest themselves so fully into complex roles of uncommon depth, and Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett do not disappoint as predator and prey in this juicy, emotionally resonant mix of melodrama and black comedy based on a 2003 novel by Zoe Heller. Directed with surprising relish by Richard Eyre and written by Patrick Marber with the same misogynistic vitriol he displayed in 2004's "Closer", the 2006 movie initially feels like a throwback to the austere, low-key British social dramas of the 1960's but quickly evolves into something far more vital as the story twists and turns.
It begins with Barbara Covett, an aptly named spinster schoolteacher whose stern, intimidating behavior in the classroom hides a pathologically lonely woman at home. Her only outlets are her aging cat and a meticulously maintained series of daily journals in which she freely expresses her bitter resentments with an acidic pen. Enter Sheba Hart, the new art teacher at Barbara's school. On one hand, Sheba is a young and beautiful free spirit, happily married to an older man, and the mother of two children, one with Down's syndrome. On the other, she has a yearning insecurity and a complicated psyche, which draws her not only to Barbara for emotional support but into an illicit affair with Steven Connolly, a fifteen-year old student. When Barbara finds out about the relationship, a spiraling game of emotional blackmail erupts into consequences neither woman expects. For its serious overtones, the film displays a devilish sense of humor when it comes to all the cat-and-mouse games, especially as Barbara recites the passages from her journals with piercing wit and devastating candor. It does flail a bit in the last third with a heavy emphasis on the melodrama, but the unabated anticipation of a showdown between Barbara and Sheba makes the gaps more than tolerable.
Dench's formidable manner has never been put to better use than in the small, precise ways she defines Barbara's nasty, needy character. It's gratifying to see her take charge of such an unsympathetic role without resorting to unnecessary scenery chewing. Blanchett has the comparatively tougher role as Sheba since we view her mainly from Barbara's singular perspective, but she proves once again to be one of the screen's most vital actresses. She makes Sheba's messiness palpable and more importantly, her attraction to Steven understandable and pitiable. Even with two such dynamos, Bill Nighy manages to hold his own with escalating fury as Sheba's rightfully confused husband Richard, while solid work is provided by Andrew Simpson as the precocious Steven and Phil Davis as a smitten schoolteacher. It seems somehow fitting that the last scene reminds me of Joseph Mankiewicz's classic of warring women, "All About Eve".
Movie Review: One of the Best Films of 2006
Summary: 5 Stars
With the recent surge in teacher-student sexual relationships, "Notes on a Scandal" was released at the perfect time. It's a powerful film, with powerful performances that made several top 10 lists and received a couple Academy Award nominations...Two, deservedly, for Best Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett). The film made a couple top 10 lists, but I think it deserved to make many more as I believe that it's easily one of the top 10 best films I saw from 2006. Actors often remark that it's more fun to play a bad guy than a good one and realistic characters don't get much more evil than Barbara (Dench), a teacher at a private school. She's feared, disliked, but respected by all the students and staff...She also serves as the narrator of the film, as Barbara enjoys filling in her opinions and views into a diary. Barbara is a lonely woman, unable to connect with people. She's probably a repressed lesbian and could easily be deemed psychotic. Pretty soon, a new teacher arrives at the school that captures Barbara's attention. The woman is Sheba Hart (Blanchett), a young and beautiful art teacher who not only captures Barbara's attention but the attention of all the staff and students. After Barbara and Sheba become friends, Barbara catches Sheba doing something unthinkable. Having sex with a 15-year-old sophomore. Barbara suddenly sees a way to play the event to her advantage and begins blackmailing Sheba in exchange for some companionship. Fearing the loss of her family and jailtime, Sheba complies but doesn't quite realize that the companionship Barbara is looking for goes beyond hanging out and having dinner occasionally. Cate Blanchett, already an Oscar winner for "The Aviator," gave the best performance out of Supporting Actress nominees. She didn't win for three reasons; One is that Jennifer Hudson presented the ultimate "dreams come true!" story and was a favorite from the beginning. Two is that Hudson's performance was extremely hyped and "Notes on a Scandal" wasn't. And the third is because Blanchett already has an Oscar and the Academy does pay attention to that. Even though Dench is incredible, it was Blanchett and Bill Nighy (as her much-older husband) that stole the show for me. Blanchett is quite simply fascinating to watch in this role. There's a lot of great performances out there, but then there's the ones that hold your eyes to the screen (for me Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast" and John Malkovich in "Dangerous Liaisons" would be a couple examples)...Blanchett gives one of those performances. Bill Nighy is an incredible, very underrated actor who is very good at stealing the show (Love, Actually anybody?) but here he shows incredible dramatic range. "Notes on a Scandal" is a great film, powerful and well acted. It shouldn't be missed.
GRADE: A
Movie Review: Frighteningly true to life
Summary: 5 Stars
I've seen headlines of professional married adult authority figures in schools with seemingly ideal lifestyles be arrested for having an illegal relationship with an underage student. I'll never understand why the adult blatantly crossed the line but sadly this scenario continues.
And whether an office acquaintance stops speaking because you spoke to their adversary or you appeared to stray from the usual lunch crowd and have the nerve to lunch with someone new, I could certainly identify with the manipulation element of this film enough to give me the creeps.
Aspects from these scenarios are some of the topics in "Notes on a Scandal", a psychological drama.
Judi Dench's character (Barbara Covett) is a single, aging, lonely, manipulative and controlling veteran school teacher who apparently doesn't believe in her own self-worth to befriend another in the normal way but uses sensitive information to control and reign in a friend.
Cate Blanchett's character (Sheba Hart) is a married, artsy, attractive newly hired art teacher with a house full of people and rarely alone but still lonely and needy.
Barbara's hatred and superiority to others is palpable. But her constant condemnation of everyone doesn't cease her abhorrence of being lonely and alone.
Sheba's carefree, first day to school, I don't know what I'm doing here attitude creates a vulnerability that some colleagues find attractive in addition to her good looks.
These qualities are initially what interests Barbara although she inwardly thinks of Sheba as a passive dizzy individual.
The women become friends sort of. They both seem to have different agendas associated with there friendship. And it becomes more and more volatile to the films end.
Judi Dench gives a riveting performance as a hateful, exploitive and calculating woman who rates a friends problems by how much she can gain from them.
She's truly scary and will stop at nothing in demanding more and more of Sheba's time like a stalker.
Cate Blanchett is also commendable in portraying the seemingly weak minded, pitifully lonely wife who has everything but can't see it. She makes the mistake of her life, claims she's trying to correct it only to be more in demand by Barbara.
I suppose depending on our experiences in life we may dismiss this film as being morally beneath our standards, or we may look past the ethical issues and see the deeper problems
of the two lonely and pathetic characters. Whatever you decide this is definitely not a feel good film. It's pretty sad and disheartening, but true to life.