Notes on a Scandal (2006)

I went to a preview of this soon-to-be-released and certain-to-be-talked about film and came away with mixed feelings.  It is without a doubt brilliantly acted and involving, but by the end it left something of a bad taste and was certainly by no means entertaining.  Now I can admire stupendous performances as much as the next guy, but for my money that is insufficient reason to warm to a film.  What we have here is Judi Dench playing a bitter and unfulfilled schoolteacher on the verge of retirement with hints of unhappy lesbian overtones.  Onto the scene comes the new art teacher in the luminous form of Cate Blanchett and Dench's life assumes new meaning as she begins to insinuate herself into Blanchett's friendship and life.  The latter is married to the older (and very good) Bill Nighy with a bolshie teenaged daughter and a Down Syndrome son, but she is also about to embark on a sexual spree with one of her fifteen-year-old students.  Dench gets wind of this and tries to manipulate her knowledge to further ingratiate herself to Blanchett, until the fury of a woman scorned unleashes the inevitable retribution.  Dench's characterization is a full-blooded one loaded with a mix of self-deprecating humour, a large dose of self-pity, and a fairly heavy strand of venom; she is a dangerous predator.  But finally, it is a movie to admire rather than to enjoy.