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Review #361 of 365
Movie Review of Notes on a Scandal (2006) [R] 92 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.50
Where Viewed: Landmark Esquire Theatre, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 8 January 2007
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
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Directed by: Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty)
Screenplay by: Patrick Marber (Asylum) based on the novel What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Judi Dench (Casino Royale) • Cate Blanchett (Babel) • Andrew Simpson (Song for a Raggy Boy) • Bill Nighy (Flushed Away) • Juno Temple (Pandaemonium) • Max Lewis (debut)
Soundtrack with original music by Philip Glass: 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Fatal Attraction for 2007 with a few twists, might be one way to describe the psychological thriller, Notes on a Scandal, starring Dame Judi Dench as Barbara Covett, an obsessed school marm self-described battle axe who gains total control of a young new art instructor, Sheba Hart, played by the stunning Cate Blanchett, when Sheba gives into her primal urges and has consensual sexual relations with one of her 15-year old students, Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson) and Barbara finds out. When Barbara discovers the on-going, secret affair between Sheba and Steven, she hatches her plan to worm her way further into Sheba Hart's "teetering on the verge of a total collapse" family life securing favor and, hopefully, increased company and companionship from the 'one she's waited for her entire life'. To accomplish this, she must use all her beguiling skills. Confront Sheba with her knowledge of the affair and then, in stunning fashion, instead of reporting her to the head of school, keep it to herself with an brilliantly friendly offer to help Sheba get out of her mess. In the process, she secures loyalty and kinship of a most treacherous nature. Clearly, as time wears on, Barbara's motives become more and more transparent to everyone but Sheba who still views her as her closest ally.
"…a film ranking among the best of the year…"
Unfortunately for Sheba two things go wrong. First, she fails to follow Barbara's advice and end the affair with Steven, which ironically due to our social norms, doesn't seem half bad for either of them despite the illegality of the relationship and the immorality of the violation of the student-teacher code of ethics to which all teachers must adhere rather strictly all for very good reasons. Second, she fails to sympathize to the extent desired by Barbara when her dear cat must be euthanized. From Barbara's perspective, she is callous and cold to opt to see her Down Syndrome afflicted son in his first school play instead of accompanying Barbara to the vet and comforting her in this time of need. Well, don't expect Barbara to take this lying down. An unexpected opportunity allows for Barbara to set events in motion that will, eventually, bring the illegal affair to light casting Sheba into the limelight of the media and a knockdown fight with Steven's mother.
Judi Dench Buy From Art.com
Director Richard Eyre has done a fantastic job with Patrick Marber's script based on Zoe Heller's novel, What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal. The casting was superb with two of the best actresses from Britain and Australia alive sharing the screen. Dame Judi Dench delivers a delicious performance of her perfectly psychotic and salacious character, Barbra Covett. Her obsessive relationships have propelled her into a spinsterhood of solitude and restraining orders. Dame Dench illuminates the dimensions of her psychological dysfunction with all of its unhealthy predilections popping to the surface. Meanwhile, Ms Blanchett captures the troubled aspects of her own character as she balances an intense motherhood of two needy children, an older husband with his own anxieties and self-doubts, and her urges to live dangerously and vicariously through her relationship with young Steven. Bill Nighy, fresh off his role as Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean 2, brings a tender and innocent side to Sheba's husband, Richard Hart. Young Andrew Simpson, freckles and all, grasps the smug nature of Steven's hold on Sheba as he uses his smile and fierce hairstyle to beguile her into increasingly risky engagements and locations capitalizing on her lust for youth (meant figuratively of course). Mr. Eyre paces the film marvelously and slows down only for close moments when Barbara believes her life's dreams, as poured out page-by-page into her meticulously maintained journals, may finally become reality, and her fears of ending her life alone begin to melt away. Philip Glass's musical score adds an edgy tension to the drama as one might expect from the master composer. The end result is a film ranking among the best of the year with only a couple of things that might have been improved upon. First, the preview should never have given so much of the plot away. It spoiled some of the mystery and intrigue that would have been best revealed by the film itself. It's bad enough with all of the critics and word-of-mouth relatives ruining plots, that a film's own trailer should not also be complicit in the action. Second, I rather would have liked to see Barbara get a bit more of a what's for from Sheba and the others she hurt along the way. Here she goes again, without psychological counseling for herself which she desperately needs, and nobody seems to notice. This touch might have been a shade more graceful in the way of ending the film than the one that was elected. Nevertheless, the overall outcome of the film is a satisfying, engrossing tour of the lives of the, to quote Barbara, "bohemian bourgeoisie" and the havoc one obsessive woman can wreak when scorned.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Cast Members
Judi Dench
• Cate Blanchett • Andrew SimpsonBill Nighy
• Juno Temple • Max LewisDirector
Richard Eyre
Screenwriter
Patrick Marber
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Notes on a Scandal (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Fatal Attraction 2007 might describe the psychological thriller, Notes on a Scandal, starring Judi Dench as Barbara Covett, an obsessed school marm self-described battle axe who gains total control of a young new art instructor, Sheba Hart, played by the stunning Cate Blanchett, when Sheba gives into her primal urges and has consensual sexual relations with one of her 15-year old students, Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson) and Barbara finds out. Richard Eyre did a fantastic job directing Patrick Marber's script based on Zoe Heller's novel, What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal. The casting was superb, and Eyre paces the film marvelously. Philip Glass's musical score adds an edgy tension to the drama. The result is a film ranking among the best of the year--a satisfying, engrossing tour of the lives of the, to quote Barbara, "bohemian bourgeoisie" and the havoc one obsessive woman can wreak when scorned.
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