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Capone takes some NOTES ON A SCANDAL!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here, closing out the year with this little gem that opens today.
Battles of the mind so rarely have a clear winner, especially when one of those battling isn’t even aware she is the fight to begin with. This is the driving theme behind the powerhouse drama Notes on a Scandal, a film about the power of seduction, the rules of attraction, and the misguided desires of the desperate. Judi Dench has made a name for herself playing women who are absolutely not afraid to speak their minds, but her role as British high school teacher Barbara Covett may top everything she’s done in recent years. Barbara’s journal writings serve as the narration for the film and allow us to glimpse into her warped perception of reality. She is a lonely older woman, to be sure, but her approach toward finding new connections in life is to lock onto a target and systematically eliminate all other “distractions” in that person’s life, leaving only herself as a place to turn. Barbara doesn’t use violence or anything quite so movie-conventional; she uses veiled threats of humiliation and boatloads of guilt.
As the film opens, a new teacher comes to Barbara’s school. The absolutely glowing Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) joins the staff as an art teacher, and her beauty seems to have the male teachers in a tizzy. Barbara is cautious in her praise of the naïve younger woman, who seems to have taken up teaching because she can’t find anything else to do with her life. Still, Barbara senses a connection between the two and the possibility for a friendship that could turn into something more serious, despite the fact that Sheba is married with children. Several months into the term, Barbara discovers that Sheba is sleeping with one of her students, 15-year-old Steven (newcomer Andrew Simpson), and something in her brain just snaps. She confronts Sheba with her discovery and threatens to expose the relationship to Sheba’s husband (played by the always reliable Bill Nighy, in one of the most down-to-earth roles he’s ever played) unless she ends the affair immediately.
Not surprisingly, Sheba does try to end the affair, but something about the Steven’s straightforward sexual advances appeals to her, probably because it stands in direct contrast to her much older husband’s more casual nature. Based on the novel by Zoe Heller and adapted by Patrick Marber (Closer), Notes on a Scandal isn’t about a teacher sleeping with her student. In fact, what the film is really concerned with is Barbara’s misguided longing for Sheba. She’s not upset about the affair because it’s with a student; she’s hurt that it isn’t with her. Her diary entries are fiercely judgmental, bordering on cruel, and sometimes not even bordering. Her observations on her first meeting with Sheba’s family (which includes a son with Down Syndrome, whom Barbara refers to as the family “court jester”) clearly reveal that she views them as a distraction to be dealt with. Dench’s ability to say more with a look or a simple vocal inflection than most actors can say in an entire two-page monologue fuels the film’s success as high drama.
To say more about where the film goes once Sheba and Steven rekindle their affair would be criminal. But as Sheba learns more about Barbara’s past from some of her fellow teachers, a clearer view of her sinister personality comes to light. Director Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty; Iris) never wants us to feel sorry for Barbara, but he’s not content to have us see her as simply a villain or predator either. The character is much too complex to be pigeonholed so easily. Notes on a Scandal is drama at its most pure, in that you feel every pain, every guilty pleasure, every betrayal right along with these characters. And to have our point of entry into the story be the writings of a woman so clearly warped by her own emotional shortcomings makes the whole film seem all the more decadent. What more could you ask for?
Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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Its all in your head;)
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That would be an instant classic. NC-17 and allthe trimmings. Anyone see the pics on her - stunning. She was on 60 Minutes or Niteline or something a while back and she explained about the oral sex .... Hot Fo Teacher! "Hey, I don't feel tardy!"
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Given the chance, my pimpely pizza like face would have earned A's in everything. To hell with the "One night in Paris" dvd's. I want hers.
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I loved her in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"
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This film is best approached without any idea of what it's about. Dench's character is one of the finest antagonists in recent memory and her twisted nature unfolds best when the viewer isn't expecting it.
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the trailer pretty much let that cat out of the bag. Still, I'd pay to see the Goddess Cate read a phone book.
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The school so reminded me of schools in economically challenged neighborhoods in southern California. The teachers too. Blanchett was amazing, and the supporting performances were spot-on, including the object of Cate's affection. Not the kind of film I'd normally seek out (I went to a Fox Searchlight screening in LA on my SAG card), but one well worth seeing.
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had to do it.
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I'm very interested in that.
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Didn't know Miss Blanchett had a taste for chicken.
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Just trying to fit in with you fuckwads. Carry on.
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http://patrickwalsh.blog-city.com
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Call me a perv, debauchee or sexual deviant / Since I love flicks that toy with the age of consent /
But alas I’m afraid that they picked the wrong wench /
‘Cause I’d rather defile dame Dench.
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shes smokin hot
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