"Notes" thoughts
Notes on a Scandal (Fox Searchlight, 12.27) is a sort of upscale, British-flavored Fatal Attraction minus the grand guignol... with a strong dose of sad-wicked lesbo suppression driving the engine. Skillfully adapted by playwright Patrick Marber ("Closer") from a Zoe Heller novel called "What Was She Thinking?," it's easily one of the best written, best-acted potboilers of this type that I've ever seen -- particularly when it comes to Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett's performance as a pair of schoolteachers caught up in each other's obsessions and vulnerabilities in a manner that goes way beyond intense.
Anyway, I recorded some interview comments spoken by Blanchett, Nighy and Marber the other day, and have posted them in this order....
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 21, 2006 at 6:05 PM
comment #1
bipedalist
says ...
I thought it was over-the-top melodrama. So bad it was good. Like The Honeymoon Killers or Showgirls. At some point, it crests the edge and it never turns back. I think they are selling it wrong. It will still do the awards thing but I prefer Marber's Closer, which I absolutely adored.
Posted by bipedalist
at December 21, 2006 6:30 PM
comment #2
PhilContrino
says ...
I agree with Bipedalist on Closer. How that screenplay was not nominated for an Oscar was one of the many crimes of the 2005 Oscars. Along with the snubs of Giamatti and Mick Jagger.
Posted by PhilContrino
at December 21, 2006 7:08 PM
comment #3
Jeremy Smith
says ...
And I agree with bipedalist on NOTES. Had they gone for a campy, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? tone, it could've been great fun, but the material's just too risible (and predictable) as presented by Eyre and Marber to be played straight. Yes, Judi and Cate are superb; I was equally enthusiastic about Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG a few years ago, but that didn't keep me from putting it on my ten worst list. I have a feeling NOTES will suffer the same fate.
Just out of curiosity, did you read the book, Jeff? I'm wondering if it's a first-person account, and whether it plays with perspective as much as the film does.
I also thought Eyre's direction was sloppy, particularly in the early going. His shot selection felt very ill-considered.
Posted by Jeremy Smith
at December 21, 2006 8:02 PM
comment #4
EDouglas
says ...
Jeremy, I haven't read the book, but I understand that it's all told from Barbara's point of view ala the voice-over, so Marber and Eyre were able to do a bit more with Blanchett's character by breaking away from that. I'm not sure what the ending was in the book but I understand it's different in the movie.
Posted by EDouglas
at December 21, 2006 8:06 PM
comment #5
thatmovieguy
says ...
It reminded me of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY: Either you're repelled/fascinated by the main character, or you're just plain repelled. Personally, I thought Dench (like Damon in RIPLEY) brought enough humanity to the woman that she emerged as a genuinely disturbed, enormously needy soul; other actresses might have made her into a standard-issue spinster-psycho. Blanchett is also very good at illuminating Sheba's desires and weaknesses. She's ultimately more pathetic than Dench's Barbara because Sheba, at least, would seem to be capable of pulling herself back from the edge while Barbara is not. The story gets rather operatic in its last act, but given the subject matter that's not a great surprise, and it's not that much more over the top than HARD CANDY was.
Posted by thatmovieguy
at December 21, 2006 8:35 PM
comment #6
EveHarrington
says ...
"Lesbo"?
Posted by EveHarrington
at December 21, 2006 9:08 PM
comment #7
Eric
says ...
I agree with bipedalist on NOTES. Glad to see more people fessing up about this overrated film. It was enjoyable, with some fine moments, but it's being treated like a serious art film, which is ridiculous.
Posted by Eric
at December 22, 2006 7:54 AM