Notes on a Scandal

Imagined Love Scorned
let loose the crazy

There are all the gory horror films out there anxiously awaiting to make you jump out of your seat. Scare bogeymen with long nails or hockey masks, bloodied sorority corpses, all add up to jumps and thrills but no real creepy scares. What scare the most is when no one dies, no scary figure pops out of the shadows, all that is there is a seemingly nice, elderly school teacher who just won't go away. Everyday she just seems to find more ways to go crazy on those around her, manipulating the object of her affection into a sort of blackmailed friend, and no good can ever come of that. Creepier still is Barbara (Dame Judi Dench's superb performance) as this battle axe of a teacher in Notes On A Scandal. The bad hair, frumpy clothing, all shed in one scene as she cleans herself up to meet the new young teacher and her family at their home for dinner. It's like you can smell her old, lonely desperation through the screen! Sheba (Cate Blanchett) is the young, selfish art teacher who all at the school fall in love with, including Barbara. She, unfortunately falls for one of her students all of 15 years old. This is devastating news to Barbara at first until she realizes that she can insinuate herself more into Sheba's life if she plays the confidant who will hold her secret at heart. But Barbara is one woman you should never be beholden too; the price you pay will be too high altogether.

Richard Erye is know more for directing theater and this shows in the fabulous and dramatically varied performances he gets from all his actors. But he also uses his crew, the cinematography, and editing to pace this into some scary and thrilling places. Frantic for love, Barbara clings to anything attractive to her but then smothers it, leaving the audience gasping at her desperation. Many in the audience verbally gasped and physically shuddered when Barbara caresses Sheba's arms during one visit. Panicked after the loss of her cat, she literally stalks down Sheba and her family. Sheba's husband (wonderful highs and lows from Bill Nighy) screams out in rage at this intrusion, from the sympathetic point of view of the audience. This woman is one rabbit shy of being Fatal Attraction crazy. You know none of this will end well - Sheba sure to be caught with the jail bait, her marriage threatened by the scandal, and Barbara lurking on the web's edge waiting to scurry into catch her prey. Full-on creepfest. Bravo. My skin was crawling.