Gripping and absorbing, the film adaptation of Notes on a Scandal is not to be missed. The only dilemma is whether to read the book first...
If you haven’t read the book, do it immediately and if haven’t seen the film, do it now! Of course it would be better if you could read the book first, but if the cinema is the easier option really there’s little need to fret. Patrick Marber’s adaptation of the book to film is so well done, either way you won’t be disappointed.
In a nutshell, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett were made to play the lead characters Barbara Covett and Sheba Hart, and it is their fine acting, replete with subtlety and nuance that brings the fascinating plot to life. The story takes place in a north London school, not far from Hampstead Heath, and revolves around the latest addition to the teaching staff – beautiful, bohemian, posh Sheba Hart. Immediately her arrival causes a stir, not least in spinster, battle-axe and fellow teacher, Barbara Covett.
The book and film both rely on the wonderful mechanism of Barbara as the unreliable narrator – though the film guides you more quickly to her burgeoning obsession with Sheba than the book. Desperate for companionship Barbara carefully cultivates her friendship with Sheba, tying her even closer when she discovers Sheba’s affair with one of the pupils.
As Sheba’s affair escalates, so does Barbara’s neediness and manipulation. Her lonely, empty life is painfully displayed by her nightly ritual of writing in her diary, dependence on her cat and haughty exterior. Sheba is lovable, flawed and ultimately lost. Married to an older husband and with two kids, it seems her life was not as she had hoped. You imagine it is excitement and the need to be desired, as transitory as they are, which set her on such a certain course of destruction.
Bill Nighy is brilliant as Sheba’s husband, and the portrayal of their relaxed, lop-sided Hampstead lifestyle is lovely to behold – in particular the after lunch reggae dance session. You wince as Judi Dench so perfectly portrays Barbara with her prey menacingly in her sight, and cringe at the moments she reaches out for tenderness and affection only to be rejected. Hell hath no fury like a woman’s wrath…
Notes on a Scandal is now on general release. Notes on a Scandal, the book, is by Zoe Heller and published by Penguin.
