The first time we hear Judi Dench in Richard Eyre's adaptation of Zoe Heller's novel Notes on a Scandal,"" her voice-over narration laments the belligerence and ignorance of Generation X. She plays a long-tenured teacher at a private school in Britain, and her harsh demeanor intimidates even the most invincible students. A master at what she does, she gains our respect quickly.
And then Cate Blanchett arrives at her school as the new art teacher. To Dench, Blanchett is too attractive and youthful to be a compelling molder of young minds. But when they spend an hour talking, she assures her ""You're going to make a great teacher."" It's a sinister lie.
Dench, we quickly discover, is a lesbian. When she discovers Blanchett sleeping with a 15-year-old male student, it is like a miracle. As the only person aware of the indiscretion, Dench puts Blanchett at her emotional mercy, masquerading as a sympathetic friend. She intends to convince Blanchett to leave her family, abandon her children (including one who has special needs) and move in with her.
If Helen Mirren is upset at the Academy Awards this year, it will be by Judi Dench. Her performance here is masterfully complex. What her character does to Blanchett's is cruel and thoughtless. She has countless reasons to report Blanchett's statutory rape, but none of them involve moral duty. In her calculated hesitation, she sets the 15-year-old victim up for more confusion. Every statement she makes has undertones of severe manipulation. Yet when Blanchett calls her ""You heartless virgin!"" at the film's climax, we know it's more complicated than that. Dench's character is a virgin""must be a virgin. She cannot express her sexuality without being awkward and cold. Nobody has ever touched her spontaneously. At the end of the film, we're left feeling sorry for Dench. And in a weird way""the Norman Bates effect""we can imagine being on her side.
It is, however, nearly impossible to tolerate Blanchett. Her character is unforgivably immature. The 15-year-old boy seduced her, she says, and she could not help it. ""You're a good mother, but a lousy wife!"" her husband tells her, and he's basically correct. (He could add that she's a lousy teacher and a pathetic friend with the moral clarity of an infant.) She almost deserves humiliation at Dench's hands. Blanchett succeeds in being stupid and loathsome""a powerful acting achievement in its own right.
The other key performance comes from Bill Nighy as Blanchett's husband. There's a moment where he lashes out at Dench and Blanchett simultaneously. It's refreshing to see someone clearly outside the cat-fight, demanding to know what the hell is going on.
One should always hesitate to speak for Hitchcock, but this is a movie he might have loved. It exposes a landscape of selfishness and sexual frustration. ""Notes on a Scandal"" is a great title because its whole world is one long, sustained scandal. It claims no heroes""only frauds and criminals vying for our unconscious sympathies, some who briefly succeed. Moreover, it has the lightning-rod intensity of the best short stories. ""Notes on a Scandal"" is a movie so precise and tragic that it stops being celluloid and becomes literature. It is one of the creepiest, darkest, most brilliant films of this decade.
