Surprisingly good!
Added 9/29/2009
Great pairing of these two fine actresses. The subject matter is disturbing; however, look beyond that and you have a film of great acting. Will add this to my collection.
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Judy Dench Gets A Gold Star
Added 9/28/2009
Barbara (Judi Dench), a strict, prissy, judgmental, lonely middle-aged teacher in a London high school, is a wicked spider spinning her web to ensnare the very sensuous Sheba (Cate Blanchett), a new young teacher at the school. Sheba is married to an older man, played by Bill Nighy, but she lets her passions get the best of her, falls for and has intimate relations with a fifteen-year-old student, well-played by Andrew Simpson. Termagant Barbara keeps a diary in which she posts gold stars for her best days. It's a thriller with lots of suspense as we follow Barbara on her pursuit of the younger woman. When she finds out about the clandestine taboo affair, the cradle robbing, she doesn't mind a little blackmail to get her prize.
The acting is superb, the story gripping. In voice overs Barbara describes her machinations and her all-consuming obsession with Sheba. She gets invited to Sheba's home, a noisy household, where the father maintains a bohemian lifestyle with his kids, one a prickly teenage daughter and a boy suffering from Down Syndrome. Barbara is seeking an intimacy with her prey, Sheba. She talks about "life as you dream it and life as you live it."
"Barbara says of Sheba, "She's the one I've waited for." and "We are bound by the secrets we share." Barbara's previous friendship with a woman had unraveled, and the woman left London to get away from possessive, controlling Barbara who says, "They always let you down in the end." Barbara is a devil, a witch, rhymes with b----.
Barbara's beloved cat dies, and Barbara wants Sheba to give up family obligations to mourn for the cat which she refuses to do.
The soundtrack heightens the melodramatic mood. The movie has a dramatic supercharged ending. The dialogue is clever and literate. When Sheba gets caught, Barbara gets in deep trouble too. Sheba's finding of gold stars on the floor of Barbara's apartment leads to the climactic scenes. At the end Barbara, the undeterred predator, is searching out new prey.
Dench is superb, spot-on in the flick, playing a harridan, a woman who deserves pity rather than compassion.
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Notes on "Notes..."
Added 9/19/2009
Note #1... Fantastic plotline.
Note #2... Super/Perfect casting!
Note #3... Wonderful production.
Note #4... Watch frequently.
Note #5... Enjoy every line, every movement, every minute.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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"WE'RE NOT LIKE THAAAT!!!!" SAID MY AUNTS.
Added 6/21/2009
They watched NOTES ON A SCANDAL at the movies and freaked out! The performances were so well done my aunts were pulled into it. They're in their 60s and 70s. They sat in the theater afterwards and tried to analyze the movie and find its faults. They were sure the faults were there but they were dumbfounded. Judi Dench as Barbara looked and behaved like the epitome of what every older woman does not want to be. My aunts rented the video and started a club talking about NOTES ON A SCANDAL specifically Judi Dench's performance. Then they found the "special features" on the video and started in on that based on what the director and actors had to say. They said and I quote, "Just because an older woman sits on a bench at one of the highest points in the city, no less, does not mean she is sad and lonely. She may be sitting there taking a rest, recuperating and milling over her three dead husbands, six children (and grands), missed child-support checks, lost loves and lost youth and arthritis. She may have lots of ghosts sitting there beside her from the past talking and laughing about old times. She is not lonely and she is not looking for another affair or relationship. I just hate it when people stereotype older women assuming they have to have a man or some children constantly around them or they are assumed to be lonely. If a woman has done all that well-enough she is not looking to do it again. She is not lonely."
They were going on and on about NOTES for a while. Then one of the grandchildren said, "The character was a old spinster. If she had ghosts sitting with her they would have been students." Everybody laughed. That was it. My aunts felt super-good after that. They felt they had given to their large families and many loves so they had a right to be tired but never lonely. There is too much in their memory banks for that. And, one of the aunts added,"I never thought that the high variety I've had in my life, you know--the stuff some people call promiscuity...would ever come to good use in my life but it has. I am not Barbara, thank the Lord." That character really threw them for a loop.
Then they got on the issue of sex, lesbianism and loneliness. They liked this movie and will likely look at it again and again over the years. Judi got them good. They can't get over it. They each said they have felt lonely lying next to the man they loved. They've felt lonely holding their own child. They said loneliness will visit at anytime including when one is alone. And, they said it is definitely a good life skill to learn how to enjoy one's self with one's self, all by one's self. It is good to learn how to have a good time no matter what.
That left lesbianism. My aunts are not against gays but they think even gay people would agree that they don't like the stereotype that when one is alone one is desperate and obsessive.
My aunts concluded that the script was missing something. The script didn't tell us about Barbara's past. Was she a gay lover when she was young? Had she ever had a gay life or was she simply looking for a young woman to be her friend or was she trying to replace her cat or was she trying to do some mothering. (Mothers can be obsessive too you know.) Or, she could have been off-the-track and obsessive.
Both my aunts like to journal. That freaked them out too. (smile) They've talked about publishing their secrets but they probably won't.
NOTES...GOES DEEP. ITIS GRIPPING.
--Margaret O
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Dark, bold and overwhelming!
Added 5/24/2009
This has to be one of the most bold and amazing piece of cinema. Rarely you get to see films that have your eyes glued at the screen. Judi Dench, she did shock and scare me both, she is at her very best in this film. Cate does an excellent work as well, she was amazing. The film, may seem to go slow initially but soon catches a rapid pace. Fine and flamboyant acting makes the film worth a watch.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Surprisingly good!
Added 9/29/2009
Great pairing of these two fine actresses. The subject matter is disturbing; however, look beyond that and you have a film of great acting. Will add this to my collection.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Judy Dench Gets A Gold Star
Added 9/28/2009
Barbara (Judi Dench), a strict, prissy, judgmental, lonely middle-aged teacher in a London high school, is a wicked spider spinning her web to ensnare the very sensuous Sheba (Cate Blanchett), a new young teacher at the school. Sheba is married to an older man, played by Bill Nighy, but she lets her passions get the best of her, falls for and has intimate relations with a fifteen-year-old student, well-played by Andrew Simpson. Termagant Barbara keeps a diary in which she posts gold stars for her best days. It's a thriller with lots of suspense as we follow Barbara on her pursuit of the younger woman. When she finds out about the clandestine taboo affair, the cradle robbing, she doesn't mind a little blackmail to get her prize.
The acting is superb, the story gripping. In voice overs Barbara describes her machinations and her all-consuming obsession with Sheba. She gets invited to Sheba's home, a noisy household, where the father maintains a bohemian lifestyle with his kids, one a prickly teenage daughter and a boy suffering from Down Syndrome. Barbara is seeking an intimacy with her prey, Sheba. She talks about "life as you dream it and life as you live it."
"Barbara says of Sheba, "She's the one I've waited for." and "We are bound by the secrets we share." Barbara's previous friendship with a woman had unraveled, and the woman left London to get away from possessive, controlling Barbara who says, "They always let you down in the end." Barbara is a devil, a witch, rhymes with b----.
Barbara's beloved cat dies, and Barbara wants Sheba to give up family obligations to mourn for the cat which she refuses to do.
The soundtrack heightens the melodramatic mood. The movie has a dramatic supercharged ending. The dialogue is clever and literate. When Sheba gets caught, Barbara gets in deep trouble too. Sheba's finding of gold stars on the floor of Barbara's apartment leads to the climactic scenes. At the end Barbara, the undeterred predator, is searching out new prey.
Dench is superb, spot-on in the flick, playing a harridan, a woman who deserves pity rather than compassion.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Notes on "Notes..."
Added 9/19/2009
Note #1... Fantastic plotline.
Note #2... Super/Perfect casting!
Note #3... Wonderful production.
Note #4... Watch frequently.
Note #5... Enjoy every line, every movement, every minute.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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