Notes on a Scandal
Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett both sparkle in Richard Eyre's film
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Monday, 05, Feb 2007 04:38
Directed by Richard Eyre, out in cinemas now, starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Cate Blanchett, running time 92 minutes.
In a nutshell...
Dark, unsettling, modern British drama.
What's it all about?
Based on the Booker-shortlisted novel of the same title by Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal tells the story of bitter and manipulative diarist and history teaching battleaxe, Barbara Covett, who befriends fellow teacher Sheba Hart in the hope that the two may embark upon a love affair.
Her plans are progressing well until she discovers that the young art tutor has begun a secret relationship with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly.
Aware of her responsibilities as a teacher but blinded by her infatuation with Sheba, Barbara senses the opportunity to get everything she desires by keeping the affair secret - on the condition that it comes to an end.
The film follows the clandestine affair between Sheba and Steven as it continues, while Barbara's obssession and disturbing behaviour soon begins to threaten Sheba's relatively perfect family life and career.
Who's in it?
Judi Dench plays Barbara Covett, a seemingly reserved and prudish teacher whose shadowy past becomes intertwined with her emerging obsession with Sheba Hart, played by Cate Blanchett.
Both actresses provide the film with its emotional core - each delivering superb peformances that demonstrate the range and depth of their talents.
Bill Nighy appears as Sheba's older husband, Richard Hart, a well-meaning and attentive man who remains blissfully unaware that his young wife has embarked upon a relationship with 15-year-old Steven Connolly, played impressively by Andrew Simpson.
As an example...
Sheba (Blanchett): "Marriage and kids - it's wonderful, but it doesn't exactly give you meaning."
Steven (Simpson): "You're beautiful, Miss. You don't know how beautiful you are."
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
The film has received a raft of award nominations, including four Oscars, three Golden Globes and three Baftas.
Perennial Oscar nominee Judi Dench is once more included in the Best Actress category, but is likely to lose out to fellow British dame, Helen Mirren for her performance in The Queen.
Cate Blanchett might well be the stand-out performer in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, were it not for the buzz surrounding other nominnees appearing in Babel and Dreamgirls.
It remains to be seen, however, how Hollywood's establishment responds to the potentially controversial subject matter dealt with in the film.
What the others say
"This is a quintessentially English tale of twisted love, of festering secrets and emotional self-harm. Something so horrible and abject shouldn't be so compulsively watchable, and yet it is." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"Intelligent, classy and skin-crawling. You won't see a better acting masterclass this year." - Empire
So is it any good?
Often brilliant, frequently chilling, Notes on a Scandal is a remarkably accomplished and emotive film that handles the themes of lust, jealousy and dishonesty in a tremendously sophisticated way.
Captivating from the moment Dench's narrative begins to reveal the dark and sinister motivations of her character, the intelligent and suspenseful plot navigates its way through often disturbing and controversial territory towards its dramatic conclusion.
Dench creates an astonishing character as the embittered and lonely Barbara - a performance worthy of her Oscar nomination. Each of Barbara's cruelest and darkest traits are evident in the way she manipulates Sheba, but Dench's strength lies in the way she reveals the vulnerablility of a somewhat pathetic figure - frequently humiliated by her misreading of situations and her attempts to reveal her feelings for the younger woman.
Australian actress Blanchett also shines as the disatisfied and bored Sheba, who, despite her better judgment, is unable to resist the darker temptations offered by year-ten student Steven. As her efforts to maintain the secrecy of the relationship become increasingly desparate, the audience is shown the depth of both her dispair and guilt as her life falls apart around her and her suspicions of her friend are realised.
The film could easily have fallen into the trap of sensationalism by depicting the relationship between a teacher and an underage pupil as a perverted and twisted thing - which may have been the case had the teacher been male and the pupil female - but director Richard Eyre masterfully draws attention away from the seedier aspects of the relationship, choosing instead to focus on the disturbing intensity of that between the two female protagonists.
Supported by a strong cast, including the brilliant Bill Nighy, Notes on a Scandal is a terrific film, highlighting that mainstream cinema can be both daring and shocking without resorting to extreme violence or gross-out spectacle.
9/10
Simon Liddle