My Netflix movie of the week last week was absent because Netflix sent me a damaged copy of Little Children. I managed to make it through half the movie before the disc stopped playing, and I didn't know how I felt about it up until the point it stopped, so I just sent it back and put it at the bottom of my queue. Is there anyone who would like to convince me that it's worth another look-see? It reminded me quite a bit of American Beauty without the poignant, sharp-as-knife satire, yet I haven't seen enough of it to form an opinion one way or another.
So, the next stop on the queue was Notes on a Scandal, which received some Oscar nominations last year without wins for Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett and was a movie I missed at the time. While it played around with elements of Fatal Attraction in unusual situations, it ultimately was a taut and satisfying examination of human psychology, though it was no masterpiece by any stretch.
Dame Dench plays Barbara Covett, a tough-as-nails and domineering history schoolteacher who is respected yet off-putting to most of her peers. She lives a lonely life as a result and seems defiant in her quest to not end up a true spinster. She is also the narrative voice, as she maintains a meticulous diary of all of the goings-on at her school in shocking detail. Cate Blanchett plays Sheba Hart, the school's bright new art teacher. She joins the world of academics, it seems, to escape the life she adopted when she married her much older husband (played by Bill Nighy) and became stepmother to his daughter Polly and son Ben (who has Down's Syndrome). Barbara is quite taken with Sheba in all ways and finds her worthy of her "friendship" despite her decidedly "bourgeois" family. Barbara schemes to reel in the object of her affection; Sheba, however, is a free spirit looking for an outlet, which she finds in one of her 15-year-old students, Steven. His repeated advances culminate in a mutually consented affair, until Barbara discovers them during one of their trysts. Rather than report her to the authorities, Barbara uses the information to covet the otherwise clueless Sheba, and the remainder of the story becomes something of a war between these flawed psychologies.
This movie was hard to watch at points, as it dealt with somewhat controversial subjects, not the least of which concerned what can no doubt be labeled statutory rape on the part of Sheba. I kept screaming "jail bait!" at the screen when this character allowed herself to be charmed by such a young man. In addition, Barbara's propensity for obsession with the objects of her desire (all women), in addition to her cold and calculating demeanor, made the character incredibly creepy.
To wit, Dame Judi and Cate deserved their Oscar nominations. Their performances with such uncomfortable, extremely flawed characters were stunning and brimming with deference, managing to show the humanity of people who would otherwise be judged inhuman by societal standards. The scene that left my jaw open while watching these talented actresses was the scene in which Sheba, broken from the eventual publicizing of her affair and having found Barbara's diaries, confronts Barbara about her misguided feelings.
Bill Nighy was also impressive and highly underlauded. He should have received award nominations for his work in this film. The scene after which he finds out about Sheba's affair is heartbreaking beyond measure.
This film was also very well written. It was short and taut; no scene was wasted, and the movie never dragged. Philip Glass' lively score was in no small part a credit to the pace; it was very complex yet understated, an achievement not often reached in film scoring.
The movie wasn't perfect, though. Aside from the three actors named above, none of the supporting adults and children displayed very good performances. In fact, Andrew Simpson, who plays Steven, was one of the worst of the lot; he showed very little emotional range and was not believable as a charming, cajoling would-be paramour to a teacher much older than him. I think he must have been cast for his looks alone, as he is definitely someone with an extremely boyish and impish face.
Also, story-wise, I was never satisfied with Sheba's decision to engage in this affair. Barbara's character was very well flushed out, likely because she was the narrator. Her motivations were clear from the beginning, and more layers were added as the story progressed (such as the discovery of previous women she coveted). I could never understand, and maybe that's because of my position in life, why Sheba felt this affair was worth giving into. Her reasoning: because she took on an entire family, including a young child with a difficult disorder, and played the good mother in the prime of her youth, she felt she deserved a little fling. There is no obvious discord with her husband, though, and her life seems otherwise happy, though she keeps pictures of her former, younger self, apparently a more goth rock-star version of the present-day Sheba. I guess I was having trouble seeing why she would engage in an affair at all, with any man of any age, much less with a 15 year old (who looked like he was 12, by the way).
In the end, though, it was a good, well-told story about the consequences of acting on and living for false hopes and skewered realities, and to that end, I rate it an 8 for having minor flaws but being very good. As to the test, I don't think it passes. There are some extremely touchy subjects being addressed here that make it impossible for me to enjoy the film on repeat viewing. Still, I would recommend this scandalous picture on the strength of the leading performances; it's by no means a wasted 90 minutes.