Notes on a Scandal (2006)

This was an explotion of charachter acting,judi dench on the top step and cate blanchet almost there. it a film about lesbianism,infidelity,adultry,''child abuse'',forbidden love,power,school,promises,lies,media,police, prison.... a bloodboiling very speedy drama of high british quality, and a great musical drive throughout the film. i can honestly say that i'd lost my job after an hour in a brattish school environment like this. bravissimo.

Intriguing, engrossing drama.Barbara (played by Judi Dench) is a history teacher at a high school. Old, old-fashioned, curmudgeonly, alone...and lonely. However, a new, young art teacher, Sheba (played by Cate Blanchett), joins the staff and they become friends. Barbara then stumbles upon the fact that Sheba is having an affair with a 15-year old student. Now, what to do with this information...?A great, tense tale of manipulation and obsession. Good twists, none of which are gratuitous. The villains are not always obvious, and neither are the heroes...Great work by Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett in the main roles. Dench got a Best Leading Actress Oscar nomination for her performance and Blanchett a Best Supporting Actress nomination (though I would view them both being in leading roles). On the negative side - the ending feels a bit subdued after the great build-up. The ending wasn't bad and does close off the story adequately, but could have been much better. I was expecting something more gritty and possibly even shocking after the tension created in the rest of the movie.

Why is a relationship between an a teacher and a young boy an interesting topic to make a movie out of? Simple - it's not. A mid-life crisis infatuation isn't something I would normally want to take two hours out of my life to watch on the telly.And indeed I was close to giving up on Notes on a Scandal. Cate Blanchett puts in a good turn as the confused attractive teacher Sheba Hart but it's just not that interesting a character. Bill Nighy is poor as the husband and Andrew Simpson is disappointingly dull as the young boy.Thank goodness then for Judi Dench. She absolutely steals the show with her portrayal of the jealous, grumpy older teacher Barbara Covett who becomes the confidante of Hart and indeed turns out to be even more infatuated with her than the schoolboy was. It's a nuanced but powerful performance - classic Dench - and transforms a terrible movie into a half- decent one. It becomes a psychological study into attraction and a fairly compelling one at that.All in all a good movie but not a personal favourite of mine.

When you watch good movies you hardly notice the passage of time. On the other hand bad movies are usually unpleasant experiences that seem to last forever. This movie falls into that bad category like a hand in a glove. Its running time is only 92 minutes but it will feel like you are watching a movie 3+ times longer. The only thing that kept me watching it was looking at my watch every 5 minutes wishing that I would soon see the final credits. At last I finally did but was disappointed about wasting 1.5 hours that could have been used for more entertaining things.Most reviewers of this film praise the excellent acting and screenplay but I don't know why. There are many breakdowns in this movie. I like Judi Dench but she is too old for her character. Her time has come and gone for roles like this. Despite this, Academy Award voters as recent as 2014 continue voting for her performances anyway. This is obviously the result of most of these voters being too old themselves so they don't know the difference.Cate Blanchett's overacting can't save a pitiful plot that movie goers have seen over and over again. In fact nothing can save this movie. I suggest saving yourself from the pain of wasting 90 minutes.