:
Tina Maskell,
Robert B. Hunt,
Peter Pedrero,
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:
Richard Eyre
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: 
: 20th Century Fox
: Drama, Foreign, British Drama, UK
: 92 min.
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Lust, jealousy, and revenge come cloaked in the guise of friendship in this psychological drama. Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) is a history teacher at a high school in London; while elderly Barbara is very bright, she's also severe and domineering, with a strong personality that tends to put people off. Barbara also takes a voyeuristic delight in recording the actions of those around her in her diary in the most minute detail. When Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), a bright and attractive woman in her mid-thirties, is hired as the school's new art teacher, Barbara believes she may have found someone worthy of her friendship, though she's soon disappointed to discover that Sheba has a husband and two children, a lifestyle that she finds offensively bourgeois. However, Barbara's obsessive interest in Sheba is rewarded when the younger teacher confesses that one of her students, Steven (Andrew Simpson), has developed an obviously sexual interest in her. However, in fact, Steven's crush on Sheba is hardly one-sided, and in time Barbara discover that the two have been making love on a regular basis for months. When circumstances turn Barbara against Sheba, she uses what she knows about the affair to destroy the life of her "friend." Based on the novel by Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal also stars Bill Nighy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| 3 Things
by randomcha
February 14, 2008 - 11:07 AM PST
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0 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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1. Judi's birdlike eyes as she peers through the window of the classroom.
2. Judi in the tub, one leg propped up, smoking a cigarette. The bathwater is the same color as the bathwater in "Brazil" when Kim Greist is in the tub.
3. The gold star stuck to Cate's heel. |
| Well cast
by Biehlanphear
July 9, 2007 - 11:10 AM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| Okay, so much has been said about how good Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett are as actors, but really and truly they are amazing in this movie, and maybe because of the roles they've played previously. Cate Blanchett tends to play the beautiful moral hero (except for in Pushing Tin, but I try to forget that one) and because of her history, we're drawn to her in Notes on a Scandal in much the same way everyone else in the film is. It actually feels like a betrayal to the viewer when the "scandal" begins. And Judi Dench plays a nasty old bitty very well. The filmmakers give her character much depth and she pulls it off masterfully, repelling us and drawing us in before repelling us again. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.04)
48 Votes
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