Notes on a Scandal, the film

Notes On A Scandal is an English film released in 2006 about a high school art teacher, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), who has an affair with one of her 15 year old students. Sheba's older colleague, Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), develops a lesbian infatuation with Sheba and when she learns of the affair blackmails her emotionally into a relationship with her.

This is a movie which depicts complicated relationships in plausible ways and left me, once again, reflecting on the tormented, lonely, and twisted lives we live. Our attempts to avoid our loneliness by connecting with another human being in a special relationship temporarily fills up the hole in our souls but in the long run is misguided and ends in further heart break. This film is good at depicting what we should not do, but doesn't help much in pointing us in directions of what we should do.

This is a sad movie and the characters while perverse are developed in sympathetic ways. The viewer wants them to be happy, but it is hard to see how this is possible given the naive and dysfunctional decisions they make.

This film has been nominated for multiple film awards including Judi Dench for best actress and Cate Blanchett for best supporting actress by both the Academy and Golden Globes in 2007. I recommend this film for adult audiences.

Link: Notes on a Scandal (2006).