Richard Eyre’s film ‘Notes on a Scandal’, adapted by Patrick Marber from the novel by Zoe Heller, is a brilliant drama.
A delicate balance hangs over the characters in ‘Notes on a Scandal’. Cate Blanchett plays Sheba Hart, a bubbly, attractive art teacher who has just started teaching at an inner city London school. She forms an important friendship with older schoolteacher, Barbara Covett(Dame Judi Dench). One night, when the school is having a function, Barbara peeks through the blinds of a school classroom to discover Sheba having sexual relations with 15 year old schoolboy, Steven(Andrew Simpson). She then confronts Sheba about the encounter.
Sheba is amazed when Barbara agrees to keep silent about what happened but Barbara has an agenda. She tells Sheba that she must stop seeing Steven. Barbara also has feelings for Sheba that she hopes will be reciprocated. When Sheba continues to see Steven the delicate balance that keeps Sheba’s dark secret in place threatens to totter over.
‘Notes on a Scandal’ is the kind of film that draws one in, and doesn’t let one go. The screen is lit up by the wonderful character studies of two of the world’s finest contemporary actresses. Watching them in action as their characters unfolded was all consuming.
The film’s first impressions of Judi Dench’s character are vivid. Barbara is a solitary middle aged woman who is coming to the end of her teaching career, and lives alone with her cat. We see her late at night writing in her journal, and hear her thoughts and anecdotes that she is writing down. Her diary reveals her a sharp observer of her work colleagues and quite a together person.
Her diary starts to fill up with entries about new teacher, Sheba. She seems to both attracted to and repulsed by her. Then the diary notes that one day Sheba invites Barbara over to her house for dinner to meet her family, her husband and two teenage children. From work colleagues their relationship has become personal. Sheba has opened the door to Barbara, and Barbara goes in full-hearted.
Dench charts a broad journey with Barbara! By journey’s end we see a very different Barbara, All a dysfunctional, manipulative, even predatorial person. Dench’s portrayal of Barbara’s dark, complex character is simply stunning.
Blanchett’s portrayal of Sheba is poignant. Her fall from grace as a result of her weakness for young boys, is heartrending. Blanchett’s Sheba is a warm, sensitive woman who is very naive and trusting. Her journey is a humbling one, and by the film’s end she is a wiser, more mature woman. Blanchett’s performance is compelling.
The narrative flows well, and the turning points are well established. Patrick Marber’s script is sharp and to the point, similar to his work on the film, ‘Closer’. Plenty of scenes linger in the mind such as when Barbara hangs on to Sheba’s arm and carresses it to which Sheba quickly replies, ‘Barbara, please stop it’.
‘Notes on a Scandal’ is quality cinema. The emphatic ending seals these ‘notes’ exquisitely.