I wish I'd read Notes on a Scandal and could compare this to the book, but I haven't so it'll be all about the film.
Dame Judy Dench and Cate Blanchett. There's not much you can do wrong with these two as the leads, and there isn't much wrong with this movie. Not on a technical scale, there's a lot wrong with the characters though.
Dench plays Barbara, the history teacher of a certain age who describes herself as a "battle axe" who isn't liked but is respected.
Blanchett is Sheba, the new art teacher. She is just getting herself out of the house after being a stay-at-home mother to a teenage daughter and a son with Downs Syndrome.
Barbara starts off as a nice, if lonely, older woman who is somewhat cold to Sheba, but frankly develops a crush on her when Sheba goes out of her way to make overtures of friendship. They go to lunch and coffee and slowly Sheba begins to confide in Barbara, but not everything. At least not until Barbara see Sheba and new Irish student Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson) together in the art room.
Barbara, who is a compulsive diarist, who forces a confession from Sheba and uses this a leverage to put herself more into the life of Sheba and her family. When the scandal breaks, because Barbara creates gossip in a fit of jealousy, Sheba is fired, of course, and Barbara is forced into early retirement.
I didn't think that Judy Dench has ever played such an ominous, or pitiable, character. She's generally either cold and hard or rather charming - sometimes both. As Barbara, she isn't likable for more than half an hour. The range of feelings she evokes with this character is really amazing, as suits an actress of her caliber. From likable to loathsome to pathetic, and never showing any sense of lesson learned.
Blanchet's Sheba is not as deeply interesting, but I suspect she isn't supposed to be.
So far Helen Mirren and Judy Dench are my order of choices for the Best Actress Oscar, but I still need to see "Volver."
No comments:
Post a Comment