Determined to refine my collection of films, to stay only with what is really worthwhile, whether for didactic purposes or for personal enjoyment, yesterday I finally saw "Notes on a Scandal" , a 2006 film directed by Richard Eyre and headed by Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett .
The first thing to highlight is the wonderful acting duel of these two actresses. Measured, without exaggeration and very realistic, both performances undoubtedly deserve the Oscar nominations, for best actress and best supporting actress, which they achieved, two of the four that the film achieved, the others being for best adapted screenplay, for Patrick Marber and for best soundtrack, for Philip Glass , who did an excellent job creating music that accompanies and supports the entire film without ever attracting attention.
The film is about a mature-age teacher who lives alone with her cat, who suddenly befriends a new school teacher, much younger and very attractive, who ends up having an affair with one of her barely 15-year-old students .
Part of what's interesting about the movie is its absence of clichés. One comes to empathize with the protagonists, because the script honestly shows us their inner dramas and their weaknesses. One ends up understanding that the attitude that at first glance could be described as sickly by Barbara (Judi Dench), does not come out of nowhere, but was brewing over years and years of a life of enormous loneliness.
In the same way, the dilemma of life is presented to us in a very human way, of which Sheba (Cate Blanchett) is not even fully aware, who allows herself to be seduced by a 15-year-old young man, who in the end only use her, as expected.
And already in the final part of the film we are also shown the conflict and vision of things of Richard, Sheba's husband, excellently played by Bill Nighy , who lives the situation with great humility and humanity , without putting himself in the victim plan but realistically facing the problem, and recognizing his part in it.
The film, although it has a story that focuses on this improper relationship between a teacher and her minor student, what it actually does is show us human vulnerability through two complex characters from different generations, to whom loneliness, In different ways, it has led them to make bad decisions, and how life brings them together, generating very interesting dynamics between them that eventually lead to co-dependency, since Barbara keeps Sheba's infidelity a secret and uses it to get closer to her, while Sheba finds in Barbara an accomplice, but also a confidante and unconditional support at certain times.
In this movie there are no good and bad, there are humans with all their imperfections and vulnerabilities, and a sample of what we can become if we do not have the strength or ability to make the right decisions at key moments in our lives.
This is a movie about loneliness, the need for love and personal fulfillment, and what these feelings and needs can bring us, sometimes slowly, without us even realizing it. It is a call to attention to the importance of communicating better and not isolating ourselves in our glass bubble, because although it may have the ability to protect us, it also has the ability to distort the reality that surrounds us, and to turn us into things that we never wanted to be.
©bonzopoe, 2021.
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