Movie Review - Notes On A Scandal (2006)

By Ugur Akinci

(WARNING: plot points are revealed.)

Starring: Judi Dench (Barbara Covett), Cate Blanchett (Sheba Hart)

Director: Richard Eyre

Writer: Patrick Marber (from a novel by Zoe Heller)

This is like watching Katherine Hepburn against Liz Taylor when they were both in their prime. Two superb Oscar-winner actors (Dench in 1999 for “Shakespeare in Love” and Blanchett in 2005 for “The Aviator”) rush us through the rapids of a relationship that starts off as the normal and courteous daily lives of two high school teachers. Yet the personality fault lines underlying the relationship quickly split and open a dangerous crack through which both women are pulled down to the depths of darkness by their own demons.

Barbara is a no nonsense disciplinarian who knows how to get rowdy students in order quick. She is a calm and balanced authority figure on the surface but deep down below she is a very lonely woman who takes refuge in her diary and aches for human touch and affection. She reminded me of the "Annie Wilkes" character (played by Kathy Bates) in "Misery (1990)" who can hurt the ones she loves "for their own good."

When the young and delicate new arts teacher Sheba shows up at the school, Barbara is propelled to Sheba’s light and youthfulness like a moth to the candle flame.

Yet there is a problem. Sheba is married to a seemingly wonderful if much older husband with two kids, one with Downs syndrome. Just when Barbara is contemplating to settle for a professional but cordial relationship, she is whipped into a frenzy of jealousy after discovering Sheba’s dark side – a sexual affair with one of the students.

Playing both the “good cop” and “bad cop” at the same time, Barbara launches a campaign to win Sheba over as her confidante and mentor in return for possible greater intimacy with Sheba. Barbara will not go to the police or the school administration but at a price. When Sheba discovers the price and refuses to pay it, Barbara allows the whole scandal boil over as an act of revenge.

Facing her shame, returning home and reconciling with her husband is a life-time lesson and experience for Sheba. At the end of the movie, she seems to have almost completed her character arc and become a transformed person, at least for a while since we are not sure if she had gotten rid of her demons completely.

The same cannot be said for Barbara. The last scene shows her scheming for the affection of yet another unsuspecting young woman at the city park. The spider, totally unredeemed and unrepentant, is at her web again and we can feel another cycle of social disaster brewing hot already.

Terrific acting by both British screen divas. An unreserved 8 out of 10.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a senior writer and web content consultant with 20 years of experience.

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