Notes on a Scandal

Caught this on DVD on the weekend. I think it's safe to say that any time you have a movie starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, it probably wasn't my choice. However, I can't lie, I did really enjoy this.


(Spoiler alert)

The plot is as follows . . . Cate plays a new art teacher at an English school, and Judi the older teacher who befriends her. Right from the start Judi seems a little creepy and needy, and as the movie progresses she gets more so. When she finds out Cate is having an affair with one of her 15 year old students, she takes the opportunity to manipulate the situation and separate her from her husband and family, and have her move into her house. Eventually Cate realises Judi is psycho, they have a fights and Cate moves out, and the film ends with Judi chatting up a new woman.

The one thing I found weird was it felt like the movie was building to some act of violence the whole time, but it never happened, it was a little unusual. Although maybe that was all by design. It kind of reminded me of the movie "Match Point", which had a similar sort of feel, but ended with an inexplicable amount of bloodshed, certainly in comparison to what the rest of the movie would have you expect.

Anyway, this was a pretty good film. Definitely kept my attention, although seeing as you pretty much know everything that's going to happen, it may not do the same for you.