Product Description

Academy Award(r) winners Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give wickedly entertaining, Oscar-nominated performances * ? one as a woman consumed by her colleague's guilty secret, the other, a victim to her own dark obsessions ? in this sexy, stylish thriller. Dench mesmerizes as Barbara Covett, a teacher who rules over her classroom with an iron fist, yet leads a desperate, solitary life outside it. That is, until she meets radiant new art teacher Sheba Hart (Blanchett). Although at first overjoyed with her newfound kindred spirit, when Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with a teenage student, her jealously and rage spiral out of control.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3783 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2007-04-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com

Gold stars to all for this taut psychological thriller based on Zoe Heller's novel that that gets more insidiously twisted as it unfolds. Oscar-nominated for her chilling performance, Dame Judi Dench gives a master class as schoolteacher Barbara Covett, a frumpy, friendless, and flinty spinster who lives with her cat. A formidable presence, Barbara is standoffish with colleagues and not one for students to trifle with (not that they'd dare). Cate Blanchett, also an Oscar nominee and winner of several critics society awards for her impassioned performance, costars as Sheba Hart, the new, overwhelmed art teacher who first becomes enthrall to Barbara after she steps in to help Sheba discipline unruly students. Barbara cultivates a friendship, and insinuates herself into Sheba's chaotic life, which includes her older husband (Bill Nighy), teenage daughter, and a son with Down's syndrome. Then, Barbara catches the reckless Sheba in a compromising position with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson). Seizing her opportunity, the calculating Barbara does not turn her in. Rather, she wants to "help" her. "She's the one I've been waiting for," she writes in the journals she meticulously keeps, and which provide, in voiceover, her corrosive commentary. This all sounds very Fatal Attraction, but no boiling rabbits, please; we're British. Philip Glass's Oscar-nominated score accentuates the growing menace. Though there is little in these characters to admire, (one would think GLAAD would have something to say about the predatory turn Barbara's character takes), Notes on a Scandal is a compelling tour-de-force for its Grade-A cast. --Donald Liebenson

Notes on a Scandal Extras

Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench on their characters in the film

Beyond Notes on a Scandal

Book to Movie Adaptations

More Cate Blanchett Films

What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal: A Novel

Stills from Notes on a Scandal

Customer Reviews

two needy women
This is a great film and is somewhat of a cautionary tale about two women who are emotionally needy. One woman is a veteran school teacher who commands respect from both the staff at the school and the students. The other is a new school teacher who is extremely attractive, but her looks are a contrast to how things are going in her personal/home life. The former of the two is single, approaching retirment and the only friend she had in her life before meeting the new teacher was her cat. The latter of the two is married to a man old enough to be her father and has two children. One of her kids has Down's Syndrome and the other is a rebellious teen.

The older teacher finds more than she bargained for in the new teacher... she is not only a friend to her, but someone who knows a deep dark secret about her. This secret is the scandel referred to in the title. The story is not just about the scandel, but about how two emotionally needy women deal with things. The older teacher keeps a diary wrtiting about others and tends to be very critical of the people she writes about. She seems to be a person who loves to observe the drama in others lives as if it's an exciting movie or novel. It became clear that all she wants is to be in love and loved by someone. The younger teacher wanted to be loved in a way she was not getting from her husband and family. Therefore, it was very easy for her to bond to a pubescent boy. This ofcourse leads to all kinds of unforseen problems.

Notes on a scandal
The service from this seller was great, the movie itself, not so much. I guess I'm just not big on English films!

Melodramatic, not a great film but fun to watch
This film was fun to watch but is so melodramatic and soap operaish I couldn't take it seriously. The situation (Cate Blachett having an affair with a student and being pursued by lesbian Judi Dench) is great material but what happened to British understatement? Instead, we get fights, tantrums, screaming matches, a dead cat, and mascara dripping down Blachett's face like a clown. The fights were worthy of Jerry Springer on a bad day. I thought soap suds would come of the DVD player after I've played it. Judi Dench and Cate Blachett are great, the dialogue is poignant (the quiet scenes are the best, i.e., Dench's speech about solitude). What a pity it was overshadowed by the loud historics demanded by the director/screenplay. The worst scene was when, after applying ghoulish black mascara, Cate Blachett blows up at Judi Dench after reading her diary and storms out into the crowd of reporters, screaming her head off. Then there's the scene where Blachett's husband discovers the affair and literally seems to be tearing his hair out. In another scene, the boy's mother comes into Blachett's house, and without a word, punches her! After awhile, I was too exhausted watching the historics of this film. Subtlety, anyone? This could have been a great film, if the filmmakers had trusted that the audience would have gotten the seriousness of the situation, without thrusting everything in our faces.