Notes on a Scandal (2006)

★ 7.1 1h 32m 978 votes IMDb
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A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

Notes on a Scandal

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Cast

Judi Dench
Judi Dench as Barbara Covett Age 91 · York, North Yorkshire, England Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the fo...
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart Age 56 · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Catherine Elise Blanchett (born May 14, 1969) is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films...
Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy as Richard Hart Age 76 · Caterham, Surrey, England, UK William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominat...
Andrew Simpson
Andrew Simpson as Steven Connolly Age 37 · Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK Andrew Simpson attended the Foyle School of Speech and Drama, and was taught by Sandra Biddle in his home city of Derry in Northern Ireland. Andrew's mum and dad are Marion and Paddy and he has two o...
Phil Davis
Phil Davis as Brian Bangs Age 72 · Highgate, London, England, UK Philip Davis (born 30 July 1953) is an English actor, writer, director and narrator..
Michael Maloney
Michael Maloney as Sandy Pabblem Age 68 · Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, UK Michael Maloney is a prolific British actor known for his extensive work across film, television, and theater. He has become one of Britain's most versatile performers, frequently appearing in Shakesp...

Audience Reviews

badelf 6/10 Aug 04, 2012
This is one of those films like a great pasta dish where everything is just right but somehow you still don't feel the restaurant is justified charging $21.95 for a plate of noodles and tomato sauce. The direction is top notch, Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart is great and Bill Nighy supporting just works. As much as I usually adore Judi
Dench's acting, I thought she was a little too one-dimensional in this role. But given her choice, she executed the role with the usual Dench precision.

This is a twisted love triangle story with very real characters. If you're the kind that picks up the dirt rags in the checkout line at the supermarket, you'll probably love the story. I gave it a 7 on my scale. It won't blow you away, but you won't feel like you've wasted your time either.
Filipe Manuel Neto 9/10 Feb 26, 2023
**Lust, loneliness and bitterness in an engaging film with two great actresses.**

I was very impressed with this film, which combines two huge and very talented actresses and a script full of tension and very well developed. It's not something new or original, and there are a lot of relatively tense films that are set in a school environment. I can quote one that I saw recently, and that I remembered while watching this film: “The Children’s Hour”. Alright, the movie is about a hypothetical lesbian relationship between teachers, it's a different kind of scandal than what we have in this movie, but somehow it came to my mind. It is not an award-winning film, but it was nominated for two BAFTA, three Globes and four Oscars. Moreover, it was a competitive year, with several great films competing.

The script is very loosely based on a real case in which a female teacher had a sexual affair with a minor student. The situation is scabrous and criminal, despite the fact that it is also a type of frequent sexual fantasy to be found. However, the film is not about that, but about the tortuous relationship between the young teacher and an older colleague, who discovers the secret. Lonely, bitter, critical, psychologically unstable, with serious problems relating to other people and, eventually, a strongly repressed lesbian, the elderly woman creates an abusive relationship where she subjugates and blackmails her supposed friend, mercilessly manipulating her to obtain almost exclusivity of your attention.

In addition to a really good story, the film has an excellent cast and two great actresses who do a superb job. Judi Dench deserves a standing ovation for the work she leaves in this film: in addition to the sarcastic, almost cruel way in which she narrates the story, the actress was huge and impressive in the way she brought the character to life and played opposite Cate Blanchett. This one, in turn, was also very good, and does an equally good job, but it does not manage to have the magnetism of Dench. The two characters are also very different: Blanchett has on her hands a softer, more one-dimensional, less complex character than Dench, who is given more challenging, more complicated material, and a character who is really challenging to play convincingly. Despite being young, and having a minor role in the film, I also enjoyed Andrew Simpson's contribution.

Technically, it is a discreet film, with excellent cinematography, with dark notes of great skill, which help to thicken the tense environment in which the film develops. With good sets and costumes, but within the predictable, and a relatively good soundtrack that was composed by Phillip Glass (not as good as the one he made in other films, however), the film is discreet, but competent, and gives us excellent production values.

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