don't miss NOTES ON A SCANDAL- Page 2

[DAME]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 10:19pm

I really liked this film and thought the two actresses did impressive work. however i am perplexed that it made a few of the top 10 lists. It does not deserve it.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 12:12am

Why not?

[DAME]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 12:25pm

Because there is a lot of better stuff out there. and besides the brilliant performances and the lesbian undertone... it all mounts up to a good television movie of the week. I will say again.. I did like it.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 12:39pm

Dench and Blanchett take this material to a level lesser actors would be able to achieve. I was mesmerized by their performances, but the screenplay is so melodramatic. I enjoyed it for the cast, but found the story a bit unbelievable. I can see how people would be put off by the dangerous lesbian theme, and I disagree that the characters is not pathetic. She is a cruel and lonely woman who has a superiority complex that makes her a fascinating character to watch in Dench's hands. If not for these two actor's this movie could have been a disaster. I do recommend the film, but mostly for the opportunity to see these performances.

I was also thankful that if a film needs such heavy narration it was not done by Morgan Freeman.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 1:53pm

Well, you're not the only one with those feelings Sueleen; many agree with you, including the NY Times' critic. I guess one person's drama is another's melodrama. And I don't mean that to be glib -- I think it's subjective. As I opined elsewhere in this thread, I found the characters and their symbiosis fresh and fascinating. A close friend whom I always agree with shared your sentiments exactly. A fascinating new topic, this tale, for open-ended discussion.

I just read more of this thread -- do we really think THIS FILM will be used to justify marginalization of gays? That people in the hinterlands will even GO to this film? It's less likely to find a wide audience that, say, LITTLE CHILDREN, and that has Winslet and hetero boining all over the burbs.

I, too, am sensitive to art being used to make sweeping generalizations, I just don't see a Richard Eyre film with Dench, set in London, as some right wing nut case's Exhibit A in Why Gay People Are Immoral and Lying Deceivers.

Updated On: 1/1/07 at 01:53 PM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 2:49pm

Well, Auggie, this film also has it's fair share of hetero-boning. And if Dench, as expected, gets an Oscar nomination, more people will see it. I don't think it is the "Lesbian are evil" film that some do, but it is unfortunate that many WILL see it this way. There are those of us who are able to judge characters on their behavior other than their sexual orientation, but for middle America (and I use that term not to slam people in "middle America" but as a phrase that has become synonymous with small minds and ultra-conservative thinking)it will be the "Lesbians are evil" theme that sticks with them.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 5:25pm

"I don't think it is the "Lesbian are evil" film that some do"

I don't think it is either.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/4/07 at 12:49am

I finally got around to seeing the film on Tuesday. I must say that I positively loved it. Sure, the story was a bit "Lifetime Television for Women,”, but the actors took the material and ran with it. Dench and Blanchett are very deserving of their upcoming SAG and Oscar nods. In fact, if anyone is to knock Miss Hudson off of her Dreamgirls pedestal, I look for it to be Cate. Sure, she just won two years ago and that will work against her. But if there's a Hudson backlash or her support is nowhere near as strong as we think, Blanchett may be billed as a "Two Time Academy Award Winner" by the end of February. And as breathtaking as Dame Judi is, Helen Mirren seems to be unstoppable in the Lead Actress category.

Just my two cents.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/4/07 at 8:50am

I saw it on NYE and I didn't hate it, but I still left the theater unsatisfied. I just didn't believe the characters. It's just a regular melodrama and I was expecting something more. Blanchett and Dench were terrific, but they've been better elsewhere.

For a very similar story of a lonely, obsessive, and possibly crazy teacher with incredible performances, check out THE PIANO TEACHER. It's at once much more outrageous than this and at the same time more believable.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 4:12pm

***SPOILERS***

"I could get TWO YEARS in prison for this!"
"The time will FLY BY.... I'll visit you all the time!"

HA.

I saw The Piano Teacher a few years back. My favorite scene was the one where the teacher tries to give the guy a blow job, and he just pushes her off of him and out the door - which leads to an ice skating rink. So the teacher ends up slipping across the rink with spunk around her mouth. HILarious.
***END SPOILERS***

[Peter]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 4:25pm

Well at least I didn't fall asleep. But this is definitely, unequivocally a sad depiction of a gay predator stereotype. I also found the film entirely predictable, and it didn't have those compelling "twists and turns" I expected.

Spoilers follow: Can any of you who liked the film tell me how this is NOT about a bitter old lesbian who spends her life alone, unhappily stalking women..and bashing their families? Isn't that the crux of the film? She stalks Cate Blanchetts character..we learn she had a restraining order placed against her from another woman in her past, and the film ends as she stalks yet another victim. The way the role is written, she is a gay "vampire" as Shell calls her. Thats the entirety to her characterization in the film to me. A very disappointing film.



Updated On: 1/7/07 at 04:25 PM

[roquat]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 6:35pm

Barbara would never describe herself as a lesbian--her pursuit of Sheba is nothing as simple as sexual obsession. She wants a soulmate, and this is the only twisted way she knows how to go about it. It is boring and pointlessly PC to read her character strictly from a sexual-politics angle.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 7:48pm

Saw it again this weekend. Loved it just as much as the first time.

[Peter]

Posted: 1/7/07 at 10:47pm

"Barbara would never describe herself as a lesbian--her pursuit of Sheba is nothing as simple as sexual obsession. She wants a soulmate.."

If all she wants is a soulmate, then why doesn't she pursue men? Although thankfully we aren't subjected to any lesbian sex scenes, or fantasy sequences.. the film makes it abundantly clear that she is a lesbian and interested in Sheba sexually..the way she strokes Sheba's arms, looks at her, talks about her...The big problem I have with the film is that its such a simplistic,stereotypical characterization..we have here a lonely, desperate, bitter old lesbian who stalks pretty young women, and bashes their families. Its the same old sad image of gay people that some people would like the world to believe is the truth....we'll all end up as sad, lonely predators, bent on ruining families. If the characterization swayed away from the lesbian aspect, or the writers made her character more fully realized, then perhaps I would have enjoyed it more.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:01am

*****SPOILERS******

Um, I've concluded that this is camp and therefore my favorite film of the year - tied with Dreamgirls.

Lines that people will be quoting/mocking for years:

"Lasagna doesn't sit well with my bowels. I'll ask for a small portion."

"By the time I took my seat in the awnings, the opera was WELL into its first act."

"Don't play the GOOD MOTHER with ME."

"Someone has DIED!"

"Hard to read the wispy novice. Is she a sphinx, or simply stupid?"

"Don't think. DO. Do, do, do, DO!"

"Her preference is for.... the younger man. SURPRISINGLY young."

"You ****ing vampire!"

"I could get two years in prison for this!"
"Oh those years will fly by! I'll visit you all the time."

"WHY!?"
"I donnnnn't knowwwwwwwww."
"Well FIND OUT!"

Campiest sequence:
when she's putting on all that goth makeup and taking a dump, and then starts messing up the house trying to find that diary, and then beats up Barbara, and then runs out of the house screaming, "Here I am!"

(How'd she come out of her daze long enough to realize that balled-up piece of paper came from a notebook with similar musings?)

P.S. The sex politics are so wild that the director, Marber and the cast can't agree on who this Barb character is anyway. But that's half the fun - feeling engaged and offended by the characterization at the same time.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 12:53pm

"The problem is this: when is the last time you saw a movie where the gay person hit on a straight person and the straight person said, "I'm not gay" and that was enough to make the gay person back off? "

Because that is not INTERESTING in anyway--why dramatize a social gaffe? It CAN be funny if a gay guy hits on a str8 guy--writers have been milking yucks from str8 guys unknowingly romancing men in drag-it need not be ALWAYS be offensive.

That being said, I'm a little surprised about little compassion you folks have for Barbara. I didn't see the last scene as a let-down or spoiler at all. I saw it as her first attempt to meet someone on her own terms, not as THE GREAT EDUCATOR or someone who uses power plays to meet her emotional needs. She simply met her as Barbara, not as someone who can help her in some way.

Barbara wants someone to need her desperately, but is too proud to pursue those needs in a direct way. She's a Sebastian Veneable homosexual, using lofty ideals of her "soul mate" search to assuage her guilt and shame, shown in the small scene with Julie Mackenzie--even when she's given the chance, she doesn't divulge her true self. I think to label her as a lesbian predator is simplistic and ignores the subtlety Marber, Dench and co bring to Barbara.

I liked the score, though I can see where some might find it heavy-handed, but I like over-the-top.

I was most impressed with the cinematography by Chris Menges and the excellent script. Just thought it was great.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:05pm

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this movie!

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:09pm

The movie is fantastic.

Loved it from start to finish.

Dench just gets better with age and Blanchett is truly thrilling.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:16pm

It should have been nominated to an Oscar for best picture.

Updated On: 5/1/07 at 01:16 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:20pm

No it shouldn't have.

And I don't think it's campy at all.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:24pm

I'm not sure about the Best Pic nom--I haven't seen enough of last year's movies, though I'm a little surprised Menges didn't get a cinematography nod--the color and composition was really extraordinary.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 2:25pm

I watched the DVD with commentary last week. It's funny, really - Blanchett and Dench talked about what a ball they had tearing into each other in the study, but the director was horrified and moved by the same scene. He barely acknowledges any humor in the material. Of course the book was written as a comedy - author Zoe Heller has said this - so it's strange that Eyre has a completely different take.
Updated On: 5/1/07 at 02:25 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 2:33pm

I thought it was pretty funny--though I have a dark sense of humor...I LOVED the way Barbara tore down the other teachers...

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 2:38pm

Sorry, I still think this is the most overrated movie of 2006.

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 2:36pm

I finally saw this last night, and I'm in the camp that enjoyed the performances, but found the film to be so-so. It started out so slow and I found the narration relentless at the beginning. I'm not sure if it became more infrequent as the film went on or it became less intrusive, but it didn't bother me nearly as much later on as it did at the beginning.

As the film progressed, I just found the two women to be completely unlikeable and I found myself disinterested in whatever the impending resolution would be.