by Everett Jensen

Created on: July 08, 2008

Notes on a Scandal
directed by Richard Eyre
written by Patrick Marber
based on the novel by Zoe Heller
starring Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson, Juno Temple

In this taut psychological thriller abject loneliness, guilt and misguided opportunism wreak havoc on the lives of two women.

Barbara Covett (Dench) hasn't been thrilled for quite some time. She's a bitter misanthrope who is not cherished by either her students or fellow faculty. She's something of a battleaxe who seems uninterested in helping guide the lives she teaches and would rather beat her students down with the same, predictable curriculum. She spends most of her time alone tending to her sickly cat, Portia. To cheer herself up she writhes scathing entries in her journal which attack those very same people she is terminally unable or unwilling to reach out to. When Sheba Hart, the new art teacher, arrives, Barbara is instantly transfixed. Although she writes terrible things about Sheba, she is quite pulled in by her beauty, ease of movement, and sweet nature.

The narrative is revealed mostly from Barbara's perspective. Barbara sees Sheba and is unable to shake herself free from thinking obsessively about the newcomer. When a fight breaks out in Sheba's classroom, Barbara steps in and restores order. This leads to Sheba inviting Barbara to meet her family. Naturally, Barbara has nothing but harsh words for the lot of them but she continues to entertain her freakish infatuation with the much younger woman. During a school production Barbara sneaks away to spy on Sheba who is working in the art room. What she discovers is precisely the thing she needs to bind Sheba tightly to her. Sheba, as it turns out, is romantically engaged with one of her students named Steven Connolly (Simpson). Barbara has ammunition and she most certainly intends on using it.

Barbara puts the clamps on Sheba because she knows she has unlimited power that she can exercise at any time. She proclaims that Sheba must end the liason immediately and Sheba halfheartedly complies although she proves helpless to control her attraction to the young Steven. The threat that Barbara represents hangs over the entire film. The rawness of her obsession colors every frame as she fiendishly plots to ensure her control over Sheba's very existence. Barbara is gnawing, parasitically attached to a woman's whose very audacity chides her at every turn. Barbara is a sexually frustrated woman who has a history of latching on to younger

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>