Notes on a Scandal

Notes on a Scandal is a writer’s movie that provides sharp dialogue and tight plot development. It is also an actor’s dream with rich and ambiguous characters. Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Zoe Heller’s novel is perfectly realized by two of best working actresses in our time – Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.

The movie is a character study surrounding two female teachers in a London public school. Barbara (played by Dench) is an old spinster with a cat who has been teaching at the school for years. Her lonely life is temporarily lightened up by the appearance of a new art teacher Sheba (played by Blanchett). With a name like Sheba, one can probably guess that she is some sort of flirt and tramp.

The story is mainly narrated by Barbara who confides all her thoughts to her diary. Dench has never been so deliciously evil and Blanchett shows us a side of moral corruption with a sense of vulnerability. The two actresses’ performances and Marber’s crisp script set this movie apart from the usual Fatal Attraction stalker genre. Despite Barbara’s deviousness and Sheba’s morally repulsive acts, the audience could still feel the pain on Sheba’s face when she realizes that her love affair is simply a teenager’s wet dream and emphasize with the hurt Barbara must be going through when Sheba completely rejects her company. Barbara and Sheba are both such complex people that it is hard to simply condemn them for their behaviors.

There are some other nice touches in Marber’s screenplay and Richard Eyre’s directions. When Sheba’s husband (played by the always wonderful Bill Nighy) tells her that he has always been there for her and asks her why she didn’t tell him about her loneliness, Sheba leans in for a gentle contact, but Nighy quickly moves his body away. The discrepancy shown between his words and actions is an instant explanation for why Sheba did what she did. Still in spite of all the dysfunctional dynamics in Sheba’s family, we can see the secret envy and longing in Barbara’s heart for any kind of family connections. I guess even a dysfunctional family beats a lonely spinsterhood.

Dame Dench may have delivered the only 2006 performance that could compete with Dame Mirren’s Queen Elizabeth II at the Oscar time. It will be delightful to see either one of them win. Blanchett is not a traditional beauty according to Hollywood standard, but her looks have an exotic quality that makes her very sexy as an object of desire. Dench and Blanchett’s performances alone have already made the whole movie worth seeing.