Review of Notes on a Scandal

Not So Scandalous

I tried to watch this film the other evening and actually ended up shutting it off. I don't know when I have ever seen Judy Dench give such a poor performance. The movie starts out trying to be a combination of a class drama and a morality tale. Dench portrays a battle-axe teacher at a British high school; Cate Blanchett, fabulous as always but wasted in a role that calls for little more than her to act completely clueless, turns up as the new art teacher, a wealthy woman with a disabled son who has decided to make a foray into the world of work. Almost immediately the students (who act more like apes, the only explanation being that they are poor) scent their new teacher's weakness and proceed to go totally wild in her classroom. When the wise old teacher intervenes, a friendship begins between the two women, and the overtones are that Dench's character would like to be somewhat more than friends with her beautiful young acquaintance. I can't tell you much more about what happens from there, because once the scene turned to a ridiculously stereotypical conversation between Dench and Blanchett about Blanchett's sordid sexual past, I reached for the remote and went channel-surfing. Maybe the movie gets better after that point, but my recommendation is, don't watch it unless you're prepared to shut off your brain - figuring out these characters and what roles they're going to play in this "scandal" doesn't require much thought.

Posted on 09/13/07 by: evonness 12:34 PM