Movies
Screenwriter: Patrick Marber
Starring: Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson
Running time: 95 mins
Certificate: 15
Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) is an old battleaxe of a school mistress. Stand-offish and friendless, her extra-curricular activities barely stretch beyond keeping a diary and an ailing cat. Cate Blanchett plays Sheba Hart, who starts work as the art teacher at Barbara's North London school. Though at first unimpressed with Sheba, Barbara soon becomes transfixed in her observation of her new colleague.
When she becomes aware of Sheba's affair with a 15-year-old pupil, as the guardian of the secret Barbara holds an enormous power over her young friend, which she progressively exercises to make herself Sheba's one and only source of friendship and support.
Both of the film's lead characters are morally corrupt, though it is hard not to feel sympathy for the pair of them. Playing against type effectively, Dench's Barbara ranges from such monstrous and reprehensible selfish acts of manipulation, but then the fragility and loneliness with which Dench endows her forbids us from condemning her completely. Meanwhile, Blanchett makes us sympathise with the well-painted Sheba, trying to escape her everyday life with her Down's Syndrome son and older husband (the ever-wonderful Bill Nighy).
Sheba's relationship, or at least affair, with her pupil ( now 18-year-old Andrew Simpson) never in any sense comes across as acceptable in any way, and Simpson straddles the adolescent schoolchild/adult boundary very well. We're made to understand the characters' situation without ever being made to accept it.
Based on Zoe Heller's novel What Was She Thinking?, Notes is an unconventional psychological thriller, the performances and pacing hook the audience into Sheba's predicament. The cast does well to make us believe in their characters' motivations and actions, even though Sheba in particular sometimes makes some odd moves. An occasionally over-the-top soundtrack from Philip Glass helps to keep up the tension levels.
A well-executed tale of two lonely women, Notes On A Scandal is both an enthralling thriller and a memorable drama.
Almost there. Your clueword can be found in our interview with Heroes star Sendhil Ramamurthy.
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I really liked the film. The score was good and Dench was impressive, and although it was not a literal adaption of the original book I felt it used the source material well. The only problem I had was that Andrew Simpson was too good looking and sexual, he should have been more of an ordinary boy.
The decent production values, the A-list stars and their acting abilities, these are things that I think will make people overlook the sexism and homophobic nature of this film. Homophobic you say? I don't recall any gay content. Look to Barbara, although there are never any clear mentions of the "L" word it is very strongly implied that she is one and of the classic psychotic stalker stereotype variety as well. Anyone who takes the time to think over Marber's script will notice the dark flaws and realise Notes of a Scandal is not worth the praise given to it.
This movie is a masterclass of film making and acting. Judi Dench gives her best performance on screen since Mrs Brown and Cate Blanchett is quite superb. The casting of the 15 yr old boy played by Andrew Simpson was inspirational. His eyes are simply stunning. This is Ms Dench and Blanchett finest Hour. Surely Oscar will shine upon them this year.
Absolutly great film, excellent score from Philip Glass (Candyman), and how surprised am I to find it filmed at my old Secondary School (Year 11 only) Islington Arts and Media School, and around Archway where my Other Secondary School was (Years 7-10) St Aloysius' College. Even the opening sees a car driving underneath the infamous "Suicide Bridge".
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For most of my life I have been a close observer of touch in all its forms, human-to-human and human-to-pet. This film is the first I have ever seen that explores touch consciously. Barbara, as a spinster, is in a chronic state of touch-starvation and only survives by taking refuge in her cat. When her cat dies, she is thrown into a panic and attempts to replace her cat's role in her life with the hapless Sheba. As for the student lover, at first the viewer is allowed to see him as charming and innocent, if sexually precocious. But by the end his lying and manipulation can be seen as placing him in the mid-range of psychopathic tendencies. This is a five-star thinking person's film, one to hang onto every word.