Notes on a Scandal

Director: Richard Eyre
Starring: Dame Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett

Emily:

A whimsical high school teacher crosses the line and has an affair with one of her students.

Judi Dench is Barbara the hard headed school mistress who can command a room of students with the raising of an eyebrow, while Cate Blanchett portrays Sheba, a whimsical art teacher. Early on in the movie, Barbara is the sole voice as she reads from her meticulous journal. She is fascinated with Sheba from the beginning, and when the two begin a friendship, Barbara latches on to the new teacher in the hopes that their relationship will grow into something unbreakable.

When Barbara sees Sheba in an act of passion with one of the students, she decides to hold it over her head. “Now we are closer than ever,” she writes. She fantasizes that one day I will leave her husband and children and they will live together in a world of utter oneness.

What a skillfully crafted movie. Both women are driven to drastic actions by their loneliness and the longing for something wonderful to happen. There are so many facets of the human condition are portrayed. Love, lust, loyalty, temptation, loneliness, disappointment; all strikingly and honestly portrayed by a stellar cast.


Cale:
Psychological suspense is the genre, I’m told. Filmed in cool colors, quiet, introspective score, narration by Judi Dench’s character in excerpts from her obsessive journals.
Speaking of obsessive, Judi’s character is almost like a One Hour Photo type head case, and I don’t want to be afraid of Judi Dench like I am of Robin Williams since I watched that movie. Oddly enough, this film plays a lot like a female version of Endearing Love (starring Rhys Ifans and Daniel Craig), and that movie went from intriguing to obsessive real fast.
Thankfully, the psychosis part of the plot is kept to a minimum as to keep the ball rolling to its inevitable conclusion.
Incredible performances by all, Cate Blanchett is luminous and emotionally bare as ever, and I what I wouldn’t give to have had a teacher like that in high school. Wrong, so wrong.
Yeah, this one’s a squirmer too. A very human coldness to it that I could understand without having the experiences to identify with.Hitchcock would’ve had a blast with this one.