*Notes on a Scandal

Directed by Richard Eyre
Written by Zoe Heller (novel), Patrick Marber (screenplay)

Jaded and bored schoolteacher Barbara (Judi Dench) takes an immediate interest in new art teacher Sheba (Cate Blanchett), and basically declares that she is Sheba’s best friend. When Barbara catches Sheba in a potentially scandalous position with 15 year-old student Stephen (Andrew Simpson), Barbara has exactly the leverage she needs to fully embed herself into Sheba’s personal life, to fully convince Sheba, herself, and the rest of the world that Barbara IS Sheba’s best friend (and more!). But then, one ill-timed death-of-house-cat later (though one knows that with Barbara, if it wasn’t one thing it would just be another), Barbara turns on her “best friend” in a last-ditch effort to ensure that there will be only the two of them, forever.

Notes on a Scandal is trash. Well-produced, well-shot, well-acted trash, but make no mistake, this movie is pure trash. Highly entertaining trash, but trash nonetheless.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

To their immense credit, all the aforementioned actors (and one phenomenal Bill Nighy) are in top form and bring their A-game to table, but still, one must wonder what it was about this script that would attract such a highbrow cast to begin with. Nothing really changes, characterwise, nothing really happens, nobody (least of all the audience) really learns anything. There are plenty of places that a more serious movie could have gone – a meditation on loneliness, perhaps, or an exploration of longing and regret -- and there are certainly moments when the film looks as though it could be headed in these directions, moments that you wish could be sustained, that you wish would last, that you wish was more than mere lip service.

Seriously, had this movie been set in Cleveland and starred, say Meredith Baxter and Alyssa Milano as the leads, then...well, Lifetime probably still wouldn’t touch it with a pole unless somebody somewhere swore that it was based on a true story.

Definitely worth a rental if you are a fan of Dench, Blanchett, or Nighy. Or just have 90 minutes to waste on something gloriously trashy.