Notes on a Scandal, 2006. Directed by Richard Eyre, written by Patrick Marber. Starring Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, and Andrew Simpson.
Now showing at the Uptown Theatre.
Rare is the occasion when the movie houses have a good movie in them, much less two that open on one weekend. Children of Men opened around town Friday, and so did the luscious Notes on a Scandal (Little Children did, too, but it’s horrible, despite what the other reviewers are saying). And where Children of Men is a mind-boggling, futuristic movie that manages to wow you with its story and technological thrill, Notes on a Scandal is a decidedly more old-fashioned thriller. A simple movie, with a fairly simple plot, well directed, brilliantly acted, and a great entertainment. It’s naughty, sexy, reveling in its wickedness, at times heartbreaking (but never too much so) and a thriller-diller. You’d be hard pressed to find a better time at the show.
Notes on a Scandal is the story of an aging spinster who teaches at a London school for troubled, lower-class urchins. Barbara Covett is jaded beyond belief, and Judi Dench plays her brilliantly–a combination of power-hungry schoolmarm and desperate loner who hungers for a companion. Dench’s Barbara is almost sexless, though she is clearly pursuing another woman. The other woman is Sheba Hart, a young, pretty mother of two, one an attractive teenage daughter and the other a boy with Down’s Syndrome. Cate Blanchett is Sheba, married to an older man, living the perfect bohemian lifestyle, dissatisfied and looking for something different. Obviously hoping to satisfy this desire and do some good for the world, she begins the virtually thankless job of teaching pottery to these ungrateful high-school bollocks.
Barbara wants Sheba, as a friend and as something more. Sheba, looking to fit into a difficult situation that might be more than she bargained for, aligns with the seemingly kindly Barbara. That is, until Sheba gets it into her head to have an affair with the cheeky Steven Connolly, one of her fifteen year-old students.
This is a disturbing turn that Notes on a Scandal takes, and it is to director Richard Eyre’s credit that he takes this on without flinching. The whole show is narrated with an acid pen by Dench, but the film takes a viewpoint all its own–and Dench isn’t spared anything either. The interplay between Dench and Blanchett runs the gamut, from seemingly innocent teacher seeking help, to predatory witch trying to suck the life force from this younger woman–who is, of course, hardly innocent. Bill Nighy is solid as the cuckolded husband of Sheba, and Andrew Simpson, as Steven, Sheba’s love interest, is a marvel–confident, arrogant, brooding, the epitome of a young man’s attitude in the headlights of a bizarre situation.
Notes on a Scandal succeeds because all parties have worked in conjunction with one another, not overreacting to a plot that begs overreaction, and filling their roles with verve. Dench and Blanchett are a great match, their showdown a match made in cinema heaven. Only Philip Glass’ ponderous soundtrack get in the way of this saucy film. Otherwise, Notes on a Scandal is a crack film that remains consistently entertaining and thought provoking from start to finish.
Leave a Reply