bkoganbing
Notes On A Scandal using a technique developed by Eugene O'Neill in Strange Interlude tells the story of a pair of middle school teachers Judy Dench and Cate Blanchett. It is through Dench that we see the drama unfold. Dench between dialog narrates the story and in her narration speaks her real thoughts like O'Neill's characters in Strange Interlude.Dench is a frustrated old battle ax who is a lesbian. We never do learn whether she's ever had a relationship with another woman as a peer. From what we see of her character she's demanding and manipulative. Blanchett is a popular new art teacher who is going through her mid life crisis. She drifts into an affair with a 15 year old student Arthur Simpson whom she sees as an art protégé. Dench finds out about it, but she does not report it as her job required her to do. Instead she blackmails Blanchett, not directly as it were, but subtly calling herself Blanchett's friend and trying ever so hard to spin a web of trust. Sooner or later the move romantically will come. Dench also keeps a journal of this and these are the Notes On A Scandal.Besides Strange Interlude, Notes On A Scandal also bears comparison to the Vanessa Redgrave film, The Bostonians from the Eighties which is adapted from a Henry James novel. Young Maddeline Potter is caught between a life totally dedicated to the feminist movement with Vanessa Redgrave or romance with a courtly handsome southern lawyer in Christopher Reeve. Redgrave's character was quite manipulative although I think Dench wins the manipulation contest between the two of them.The way the film is written and structured Judy Dench is playing two roles almost at the same time. The character interacting with others and the one who is narrating the film through her notes. It's quite a task and got Ms. Dench an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.Probably Cate Blanchett should have been nominated in that category as well, but I guess so the two women wouldn't be competing against each other Blanchett got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Their scenes together truly sizzle, especially at the end.Fans of Judy Dench and Cate Blanchett will be well pleased with Notes On A Scandal.
left-of-center
"Notes on a Scandal" is one of my all-time favorite films. In my mind, it's perfection. Directed by Richard Eyre, and adapted by Patrick Marber from the novel by Zoe Heller, it's a film that I can never get enough of. It's as sensational and (pun intended) scandalous as a soap opera but is written with great intelligence and nuance, as well as features first-class acting. This London-set story of a lonely, bitter high-school history teacher, Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), and her twisted friendship with the school's fragile yet deviant new art teacher, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), has all sorts of layers to plumb.It was nominated for four Oscars, after its 2006 release, and one of them was for Marber's Adapted Screenplay. It was very well-deserved and he probably should've won. Eyre directs the film well, striking a balance between a minimalism that shows his theatre roots and a subtle gift for keeping the pacing alive. Yet, the true foundation of the film is the script. "Notes on a Scandal" is not only wildly entertaining and gripping but full of classic dialogue. Marber is, after all, the same man who gave us the line "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but it's better if you do" from his play/film "Closer." So, there's not only zingers here, mostly through Dench's impeccably delivered, acerbic voiceovers, that will make you howl but evocative lines that will make you think. For example: "It takes courage to recognize the real from the convenient." It's quite rare to see a story that is not only woman-centered but so unsentimental and brutally honest in its depiction of said women. In this, Marber sticks faithfully to Heller's novel. Barbara and Sheba are both fleshed out in three-dimensional ways, given sympathetic qualities at the same time that their unlikable, appalling, or absurd traits aren't glossed over. Some reviewers seem to have taken issue with Sheba, in particular, and why we aren't given a clear answer as to why this bright, attractive, happily married woman would sleep with her 15-year-old student, Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson). But, I think that's the essential point. It's all too complicated to sum up so neatly and logically.Blanchett, who was Oscar-nominated for her performance, does a fantastic job at playing Sheba's ambiguity and complexity. She is full of yearning, vulnerability, and confusion, while also keeping us guessing, as well. Sheba has to be as much of a mystery as she is a bleeding heart and Blanchett nails this balance very well. Bill Nighy shines in his smaller role as Sheba's husband and Simpson brings a roguish, boyish charm that makes him dangerously appealing.And then there's Dench. The Great Dame received an Oscar nod for this role and many would agree that she should have won (no offense Helen Mirren). She does so much with Barbara. First off, she's utterly hilarious, dishing out dry English wit like nobody's business. Second off, she's appropriately unsettling and horrifying, not holding back from the character's creepy, controlling nature. Yet, she is also deeply empathetic. The more the film progresses, the more you forget Barbara is such a "monster". The loneliness and need that Dench grounds her in is superb.Now, Philip Glass was also Oscar-nominated for his Original Score, which I have to mention, as it seems to be quite polarizing. I personally loved it. A bit over-the-top? Yes. But, it adds to the juiciness of the movie. It kept me on the edge of my seat, in certain moments, especially during a climactic showdown between Barbara and Sheba. It helped make the film seem like an actual psychological thriller, not just a drama."Notes on a Scandal" is a movie you truly experience. One minute you're laughing, the next you're gasping, and the next you're feeling deeply for two people who you might otherwise simply judge.
