Any time an opening shot fades up to the pulsing strings of Phillip Glass, I know I'm always in for a thought provoking and often slightly upsetting piece of cinema, and Notes on a Scandal is no exception. With an EXCELLENT script based on the novel pre-titled "What Was She Thinking," we are presented a world viewed by the embittered, lonely, catty as Oscar Wilde, and self described "battle axe," Barbara Covett (mmmm name symbolism is fun). The events are relayed with running commentary from her piercing diary, a device which could easily become tiresome but instead adds another level of thought, humor, and ultimately pain to story.
The leading women give great depth to two characters who could easily be simply two dimensional. Cate Blanchet is Sheba, the young, idealistic intellectual who hopes to inspire her students if for no other reason than to find meaning in her life beyond her slightly stale marriage and two children. Judi Dench, as described above, is a loner with a scary secret. When she falls in love she falls HARD. And she's so deprived of human contact it takes merely normal friendliness to get her heart pumping. And, as with other classic characters who haven't been properly socialized, her idea of love is quickly perverted into territorial obsession.
The pacing of events is quite impressive. You're sucked into Sheba and Barbara's friendship and (if you haven't seen any trailers or read reviews of the movie) are as blindsided as Barabara when confronted with Sheba's affair with a 15 year old student that's been ongoing for weeks already. While the story takes appropriate times to pause over the family/relationship importance of the holiday season that's nessicary, things happen at a rate that is appropriate but not dragging, which is a problem so many dramatic movies have in common.
Unfortunately this aspect of the script is what keeps it from being a perfect movie. Barabara is forced to put down her sick cat and flees to Sheba for comfort. As she approaches their house, Sheba and her family are pulling out in the station wagon to attend a school play starring her 12 year old, downs syndrome affected son. Of course this is an excellent opportunity to show the crisis of Sheba's having to choose and an effective way to provoke Barabara's jealous rage to spiral her into the next act, but after 10 minutes of seeing how Barabara had become a part of the family, there's unexpected outbursts from Sheba's daughter and husband who have both suddenly become quite sick of Barabara for no apparent reason. Perhaps there's a cut scene or two that will be on the dvd, and polarizing the two out of three loves in Sheba's life is always the best option to move the story along, but...there it is.
When we left the theater, I was the only one of my group who actually felt sympathy for Judi Dench. That doesn't mean I excused the way she manipulates Sheba into her underground lair, but I could follow the thought process. Perhaps it's another issue preventing it from being a perfect movie that prevents people from relating to Babs. Or perhaps it's Dame Dench's performance that relays such intimidating power and craziness that no one wants to fuck with her.
This is the second movie I've seen Judi Dench in a gay role. The first is the Shipping News with Kevin Spacey. She always chooses roles of women who have loved once and because of either pain or societal attitudes, or both, have never made the effort to love again. I'm sure it's more a nod to her choice of characters with depth rather than a concerted effort to assist the gay rights movement, but I just thought it was worth noting. You go girl!
As someone with a soft spot for films about love and obsession (see Vertigo and Sunset Boulevard in my top ten list), this one definitely hit the mark. The camera repeatedly captures the age on Barabara's face as if to assist in counting the years she's been alone and searching for the soulmate she thinks she's found in Sheba. Her claw-like hands yearn to caress Sheba's snow white skin but everyone knows they never will.
This is a film about the tragedies we bring on ourselves out of a desperation that we may we may never feel the depth of emotion, tenderness, and life we might find with someone new. For all those movies promoting the regret felt toward untaken risks, this one presents what could happen when we take a risk our desires have perverted into one worth taking. But, then again, who can ever say no to love?
And look below. How could you NOT let that 15 year old destroy your career and family life?!
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