Review of Notes on a Scandal (2006) by Paul Z — 11 May 2011

Notes On a Scandal is a film that took quite awhile to be released in my city and when it finally was, this weekend, after being nominated for several different Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay awards, it was only given showings at a small independent and foreign film theater called the Esquire, which holds six screens and no stadium seating. Earlier this week, I was told by two friends of mine to rush to an even more obscure theater in the city to see The History Boys, which they saw last week. This week, when I checked for its listings, I found that wasn't showing anymore in my town. It was given about a week, maybe two, in one small theater. Funny how both The History Boys and Notes On a Scandal have undertones, of sexual relationships that are either gay or between two people with a substantial age difference.

Notes On a Scandal is not even a film focusing on the study of a relationship. It's about the shameful consequences of an adulterous sexual relationship between a married teacher and a fifteen-year-old student. There is only a slight hint of homosexuality, but with such ambiguity. I don't believe that it's intended as homoerotic but an expression of intense lifelong loneliness. If a film that acknowledges the socially unacceptable nature of such a relationship and only quietly glints with what may be perceived as homosexuality and from an antagonized character, what else are we going to censor? Movies about drugs? Movies about criminals? What will we have left?

English films are perhaps more often sophisticated and intellectual in the writing because of their lack of inhibition, something America inarguably has more of than any other country with a mass-producing cinema. Because they aren't afraid of certain subjects or different perspectives, they can delve into a story from a whole new world of angles, which American filmmakers are typically given a hard time for doing. Notes On a Scandal is very well-written, with two of the most provocative and unusual characters in recent film. Dench's wicked yet from an angle quite sympathetic character and Blanchett's timid and deer-in-the-headlights sensitive counterpart have a jarring vulnerability and fear of such things in life taken by so many for granted, like companionship or loyalty or identified insecurity, that I've hardly seen in any mainstream films. Told through an unelaborate, quite simple structure, it's a story driven by the motif of an English battle-of-wits yarn about a crime and a scheme to get away with it, but the motivation and conflicts that press the story forward are created by these two characters' unusually open, honest, and pitiful weaknesses.

Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett are both very powerful, not just because of their chemistry together but also because of their own boldness and depth. Possibly the most powerful scene in the whole film is Cate Blanchett's jolting, explosive reaction to the press crowd, a scene wherein her character seems to transfigure her surface and descend into rage stripped of any femininity. The two stars have been nominated for many awards, but there is someone who is perhaps being overlooked, and that is Bill Nighy. He is an actor who undoubtedly causes a reaction in everyone in the audience. The scene wherein he unleashes his flamethrowing temper, one that could possibly frighten God, is another highlight.

Notes On a Scandal is more than just a thriller about a wicked scheme. It's one of those films that needs to be seen by many people and not restricted from theaters in certain cities for the mere surface of its subject matter, because it has an important take on the human condition. It demonstrates what people will do out of weakness. Most good people do bad things when they are at a point when they feel weak. Both Dench's character and Blanchett's are trapped in a situation that has been created by two bad things that they both have done solely out of their own weakness. It's a very very intelligent film that will surely provoke you.