The Good

The acting and writing in this film is superb.

The Bad

I feel that this movie might have been bettered served if it was longer.

Notes on a Scandal tells the intertwined story of Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) and Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett). Sheba is a new teacher who seems very out of her element at the high school that Barbara has been teaching at for years. Barbara is a very lonely sort who seems to suffocate anyone who gets close to her. Sheba doesn't realize this is the case and things take an unexpected turn when Barbara realizes that Sheba has been having an affair with one of her students. Married to a loving husband (Bill Nighy), they have two children, and when Barbara realizes how much Sheba has to lose she seems to cast a spell over her when she tells Sheba she knows about her infidelities.

Eventually, Barbara comes to feel wronged when Sheba won't miss her son's play to comfort Barbara on the loss of her cat. Barbara then plants a seed about Sheba's extramarital affair and that summarily brings Sheba's entire house down. Sheba's husband kicks her out, she loses her job at the school, and as she waits for her court case to commence a media circus begins building outside Barbara's apartment where Sheba is staying. It is only when she realizes just how much Barbara has been preying on her life, that she finally confronts her in the films denouement.

Features

Featurettes

The creators of this DVD have put three featurettes on this disc. They are In Character which was part of the Fox Movie Channel, and features Blanchett and Dench discussing their roles in this film. Sadly, the other two featurettes on this DVD didn't really stretch themselves that much either, and in many ways they played with a redundancy that seemed to call their very existence into question. Titled The Story of Two Obsessions and Judi and Cate: Behind the Scandal, I sort of wondered why they felt the need to keep belaboring the same points? I will say that The Story of Two Obsessions featurette does seem to try and cover different ground. We get to hear from Notes on a Scandal novelist Zoe Heller, as well as from Blanchett and Dench about the themes of the film. They touch on such things as loneliness and how it sort of seems like all the main players in the story are hiding in someway. This stuff isn't bad, I just think it would have been better served cut into one cohesive piece.

Webisodes

Commentary Track

Richard Eyre handles the commentary track duties here but he seems to spend a great deal of time telling us what we already can see on the screen. Apparently, there was a different beginning than the one that was in the final film, but he chose to begin things outside because he felt it made people realize right away how lonely Barbara Covett was. Eyre goes on to talk about where the scenes in the film were shot, and how he tried to make things explicit without calling attention to the fact that that is what he was doing. My only gripe is that I wish he would have taken a more anecdotal approach to recounting this film, as opposed to making the production seem so by the book.

Video

1.85:1 - Widescreen. This movie employed a lot of voice over tracks and I really loved that. There are people that believe you have failed if you use them, but I can think of few more effective ways to really get us in the heads of the characters. This movie also didn't feel as stilted as some of these movies often do. In fact, when I first heard the title, Notes on a Scandal, considering who was involved my first thought was that this was a period piece. They use a lot of montages and what not to push the story forward, and they show us the affair that Sheba is having in a way that sort of surprises us. It is as if the film language is asking, "How could you not know that?"

Audio

English - Dolby Digital 5.1 - French - Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround - Spanish - Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. Unfortunately, I had to watch this movie with the subtitles on. It wasn't that the actors had overly thick accents (even though in parts they did), it had more to do with the English phrases that I am sadly not up on. The audio in and of itself was fine. I didn't have to turn up the sound that high and once I got everything leveled things sounded really solid. I also loved the score from Philip Glass which made Notes on a Scandal play as if it was a Hitchcock movie.

Package

Cate Blanchett looks almost angelic on this front cover as Judi Dench seems to lurk in red in the background. The back portion of this cover shows us some shots from the movie, a description of what this film is about, a Special Features listing, a credits list and some system specs. There isn't anything too special about this artwork, although it seems to be appealing simply to the fans of these actresses.

Final Word

I was surprised at this movie on three accounts. The first was how much I liked it. It was so well acted and written that I found myself lost in the story of this film. I really was engaged by the way Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett approached their characters. Also, Barbara's narration was was truly thrilling because a character would be saying something to her, opening up about some personal idea or feeling, and she would comment on it in an almost dismissive way in the voice over. However, we would then see her on screen acting totally different and it appeared like we could legitimately see the wheels spinning in her head. As if, when she was planning to deceive these people was when she was at her happiest.

The second thing that surprised me about this film was that it wasn't long at all. At only 92 minutes, I was expecting a lot more to happen. Mainly, I was hoping that Sheba would exact some real revenge on the woman who wronged her. In fact, it is never really broached that Barbara was the one who outed her. Sheba, when she eventually confronts her, seems to be more upset that Barbara seemed to be enjoying chronicling Sheba's downfall in her diaries. I guess I wanted some type of Fatal Attraction ending, but instead it seems like things just went back to normal.

Lastly, while I don't think she is an ugly woman, when I think of vixens sleeping with their students, I certainly don't think of Cate Blanchett. However, she is such a good actress that that is exactly how I came to think of her in Notes on a Scandal. In truth, I don't know that I will ever look at her the same way again which means she is free to continue to surprise me.

Notes on a Scandal was released December 25, 2006.