Notes on a Scandal

NOTES ON A SCANDAL is a Judi Dench "triumph" of brilliant wit, pain and a satanic passion for a woman out of reach in Cate Blanchett. Her "Judas" to her supposed friend and fellow teacher is an acting performance which will land Ms. Dench right back in "Oscar country". Too bad it is in the same year as Helen Mirren's magnificent "Queen" as Dench gives a show here in NOTES ON A SCANDAL that leaves you quite breathless to the last and final scene and fade out.

Barbara Covett (Dench) teaches history at a comprehensive school in London, England. A lonely old spinster, Barbara's primary relationship is with herself by means of a diary which she keeps compulsively, the only "intimate relationship" in her life. She is unpopular among her students and colleagues, but an effective disciplinarian. At the start of the school year, a new teacher, Sheba Hart (Blanchett), begins to teach art at the school. When two male students get into a fight despite Sheba's attemps to separate them, Barbara intervenes, discovering in the process that one of the boys was fighting the other because the latter had impugned Sheba's honor. Barbara and Sheba begin a friendship during the course of which Barbara learns of Sheba's family, her much older husband and two children, a boy with Down's Syndrome, and a girl. Sheba admits to her that she is unhappy with her life and had planned it differently. Barbara is thrilled with her new friendship and begins to place her hopes on it.

Not seeing Sheba at the school play, Barbara goes looking for her and witnesses her having an amorous encounter with fifteen-year-old Steven Connelly (Simpson), the boy who had earlier fought for her. Barbara is shaken and confronts Sheba, demanding to know everything. Sheba explains that Steven had been making passes at her during their after school tutoring sessions, and that she had succumbed after learning that his father is abusive and that his mother is dying from kidney failure. Barbara sees this as her opportunity to cement the relationship she always wanted. She agrees not to inform anyone if Sheba ends the affair, noting everything down in the diary.

Sheba's gratitude and Barbara's increased hope intensify their friendship. Sheba, however, has not been able to resist Steven's desire for her, or her own feelings. They are interrupted while making love by Barbara's unexpected visit, during which Barbara attempts a physical seduction of Sheba, who is visibly desperate to return to Steven, left waiting for her. Barbara glimpses the shape of a boy in the back yard, Sheba's cell phone rings and both women lunge for it. Barbara is first to take the call, only to hear Steven's graphic, seductive language. She again forces Sheba to promise to cut off the relationship. She again tries and fails, discovering in the process that Steven's tale of woe about his family was a lie.

Matters are brought to a head when Barbara, distraught over her cat's death, seeks out Sheba's companionship. She meets up with her as Sheba and her family are leaving for a long-planned school play involving her son. Barbara confronts Sheba with the demand to choose there and then between her and her family, resorting to blackmail. Sheba says that her loyalties lie with her family and goes off to the school play. A teary-eyed and furious Barbara buries her cat alone. Later that night, she hints to one of her colleagues, himself in love with Sheba and seeking an adulterous relationship, that Sheba is having an affair with Steven. He, humiliated and incensed, lets the truth out. Steven's mother storms into Sheba's home, accuses her before her family of sleeping with "a child" and physically attacks her. Sheba's husband blames her for giving in to feelings that "everyone" has but is able to suppress.

Within a short amount of time, Sheba is questioned by the police in a headline investigation. The school headmaster believes Barbara was aware of the affair and questions her, but is unable to find any evidence. He does, however, mention a previous incident where a "friend" of Barbara's moved away after requesting a restraining order against her, claiming she had stalked her previously. Barbara is forced into retirement a year early and is stalked by the press as well.

Barbara visits Sheba, who has been cast out by her family, in particular her husband and daughter. Believing that Steven had been the one to divulge the relationship, Sheba goes to live with Barbara. While Barbara fantasizes about renewed intimacy with her, Sheba discovers the diary. Disgusted, Sheba exposes Barbara to herself as a deluded fool, and returns to her family and a sentence of ten months in prison.

A few days later, Barbara meets Anabelle, a woman Sheba's age, reading about Sheba in a newspaper. She talks to Anabelle about having met Sheba, and a new possible friendship, one which may include another "deep bond," begins.

Patrick Marber delivers a deliciously wicked, witty and crisply written script in NOTES, and it only enhances his reputation for giving an audience a story well developed and with characters that you can't take your eyes off on the screen. His writing in CLOSER was so brilliant and clever, but in NOTES ON A SCANDAL he hands Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett words that are zingers and with a strong blend of anger, pain and humor. Please, Patrick, gives us another film quickly! The "teacher/student" romance was well developed and the chemistry between the two actors was believable and very sexual, and one could understand the youthful passion delivered by a young man with a strong mind and body. I did at times have to listen carefully to the young actor's lines, but he delivered them like a pro.

In the weeks ahead, I anticipate a "roar from the crowd" for this very dark and witty Judi Dench performance and who knows, she may upset "The Crown" in the end come Oscar time.