| Product: |
Notes on a Scandal (DVD) |
| Date: |
01.07.07 (179 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: The Acting
Disadvantages: A very slight story
Notes On A Scandal is, plot wise at least, all about two teachers at an inner city London school and how one of them succumbs to the advances of a young 15-year-old student. This is the focal point for pushing the story forward at least but it is much more about the two women themselves, their attitudes and relationship.
First off we have Barbara, played by Judi Dench as a tough no nonsense battleaxe who lives alone and seems to hate everyone around her, or so it seems going by her diaries that we hear being narrated. Then we have Sheba (Cate Blanchett) a family woman, married to an older man, with two kids and a bohemian middle class upbringing.
The story, based on the book by Zoe Heller, is not just led by Barbara but pulled like a bull by its nose ring by her. She is the main impetus behind everything that happens throughout most of the film. 90% of what happens we see through her eyes and words.
Judi Dench, as acclaimed as she is, has never done anything for me (apart from in the film Iris) and I would not go out of my way to see something just because she is in it. As Barbara though she is fantastic, every action, every word, every little nuance means something. Her look in school, sans make up, hair styling et al, really makes her look old, like someone who has been teaching all their life and has been worn down by it all. It is rare that an actress will let herself be seen like this in screen and it is not only brave but totally in keeping with her character that she would look like that.
Cate Blanchetts’ Sheba on the other hand is someone who has flitted through life never really knowing what to do with her life but at the same time feeling confined by having an older husband (Bill Nighy) and two children. Her move into teaching is something she hopes will open up the world to her. She wants to be an artist and turns to teaching art to the youth instead.
Notes On A Scandal is about friendship, passion and obsession. Both women experience the full range of emotions as their friendship builds from the early meeting built on sympathy.
It is also a movie that is hard to formulate a firm opinion on. I did enjoy it and was engrossed by it, but at the same time it never surprised me or did anything different from what I expected to see. It was very formulaic and if not for the quality of the acting probably would have been fairly standard.
The acting of the two stars is what makes Notes rise above all around it. You don’t watch the film for the story but for the abilities of Blanchett & Dench. When you add the incomparable Bill Nighy to the mix, especially when he, once again, steals every scene he appears in. When you put these three together you realise that Notes is a film built around the acting and not the story. The three of them make the film, make the time invested in it worthwhile. There is no doubt that the award nominations it has received acting wise are well deserved.
Having seen Half Nelson not that long before this one it is apparent that this teacher/pupil story doesn’t compare in the slightest to the intensity of that one. That is a much more powerful film, but then this one comes across as much more realistic. Again this is down to the acting, the characters are believable and the situations they find themselves are not things we are unfamiliar with.
If you want a fantastic story, in depth and complex, you’ll not really get it from Notes On A Scandal, I’m sure it works much better in novel form, but if you want to see three people acting at the top of their game then this is a film you shouldn’t avoid.
Summary: Should be watched just for the marvelous acting.
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