| Overall Grade: |
C+ |
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| Story: |
C+ |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
C+ |
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|
| Visuals: |
C+ |
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Emphasis on the Notes, Overlook the Scandal
by Jersey Joe (movies profile)
Nov 5, 2007
25
of
27 people found this review helpful
"Notes on a Scandal" is the story of a relationship between two women; An older spinster type teacher(Judi Dench) and a younger teacher, less sure of herself (Cate Blanchett).
As the story unfolds, we discover that the older woman, Barbara, doesn't like anyone and the younger one, Sheba, is in over her head. The older one takes notice of the younger, judging her, but then seemingly takes a liking to her. The two become friends.
We then discover, through Barbara's eyes, that Sheba is having sex with a student. Barbara agrees to not to rat on her new friend, but only to further strengthen her grip on her new friend.
The scandal comes to surface but even then the focus of the film is on the nature of the relationship between the two teachers. We see just how lonely and desperate Barbara is and just how weak Sheba is.
This is where I have a problem with the film. Sheba is a grown woman, a teacher, who elects to have sex with a fifteen year old. She pays a price, but the film is very sympathetic toward her character. She is like Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction, her inappropriate actions lead to personal misery. The film sympathizes with her during the misery, essentially letting her off the hook.
Judi Dench is great and a little scary as a desperately lonely and unstable woman. As good an actress as Caste Blanchett is, she is little more than pretty and weak in this film.
I liked the story of the relationship between the two women, but the scandal was handled as if it were merely an extra-marital affair and as fodder for blackmail. That weakens the film for me. Leaving me with Judi Dench's performance as teh only reason to recommend the film. |
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