first, a confession and some praise. i am not familiar with the vast majority of Judi Dench's television, film and dramatic work, beyond her appearances in the bond films, and although i am aware of her hefty CV and experience, i am not clued up about how much of a Judi Dench performance this is. i can say the same about Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy - i am fond of Blanchett in the lord of the rings films, and Nighy's work as Viktor in underworld, Davy Jones in the pirates of the Caribbean films and with Simon Pegg and co in Shaun of the dead and hot fuzz, but they are not familiar to me, just as the style of film, a very modern, British drama often seen on British television these days, is again not one i'm well acquainted with, a brooding, topical, moody kind of drama, evolved from shows like the bill and casualty and period dramas, that i've only encountered on occasion.
all of that is preconception that can be discarded when weighed against the strength of the performances put in; there are a lot of raised voices, serious moody introspection, a wide range of emotions and reactions and a sense of realism and plausibility lent to the situations of comfortable home life, bitter hermit life, public school in the staffroom, classroom and playground, all strung together expertly by a waspish and somewhat insightful narrative delivered by the desperate and manipulative Barbara. it's a credit to them all that Dench can portray so convincingly a lonely, isolated, regretful and tragically vicious old woman trying to forge some sort of warmth out of her calculating web of secrets, Blanchett can portray a liberal, beautiful but weak and easily tempted young teacher, Nighy a happy, logical optimist husband who goes to astonished and dismayed pieces when his wife's societally unacceptable crime comes to light and even Simpson gives a good performance as the headstrong and somewhat overconfident, animal boy who gets some Sheba.
this brings me to the flaws, which are subjectively observed ones pertaining to the plot / message balance but which i think affect the film detrimentally. first of all, Steven is predatory and Sheba is the weak and passionately seduced maiden in their relationship which is as such to offer debate about the nature of paedophilia and how it isn't necessarily as clear cut as the law or media insist it is in every case, but the ease with which she believes his smugly delivered woe-is-me story uncovers her flaws far too readily and threaten to detract from that debate; Barbara's knowledge would also suggest a far more cleverly manipulative and devastating problem for Sheba, but the focus is really on Barbara's own weakness, and as such she pines for attention when her cat dies and when she doesn't get it, clumsily and riskily deals the blow to a fellow teacher interested in Sheba himself. this brings the media and her head teacher down on her hard.
when she takes Sheba in, Sheba finds a page of her insidious and lonely diary in the bin? you think such a manipulative woman would keep such damaging material more safely concealed, or just destroyed. all of this puts more focus on Barbara's weakness. the film ends with a status quo that is revealed shortly after it begins, which is even more contrived as Barbara has suffered an embarrassing and violently delivered rejection to compound her incompatibility with people, and the school has suffered a second underage teacher relationship scandal, both of which would be reasonably expected to give more lasting damage.
a better plot for me would have been a more genuinely vulnerable boy and a less easily manipulated Sheba screwing, followed by a less vulnerable Barbara finding out, and then a tense friendship / power struggle between Barbara and Sheba which tests the growing need of the vulnerable boy she's seduced, the acceptance of her family and her own ability to hide the affair and cope with her own growing shame and guilt, and the damnation of her school and the law and media when it inevitably finally comes out, Barbara's manipulation of Sheba exhausted leading to her cruel humiliation, that could backfire with the revelation that she's an accomplice etc. that's just my suggestion; i'm simply angling for something more subtle and less contrived then that which we got. British drama in my experience is less ambiguous and more direct, as it is in this film. at least it's not dumbed down, albeit somewhat contrived.
it's still a good film. it's acted brilliantly and engagingly, Blanchett, Dench and Nighy convincing the viewer that they're Sheba, Barbara and Richard, along with everyone else presenting great characterisation. the cinematography and score and production are superb and it's an interesting project. the plot and debate within the film are flawed and presented in a slightly clumsy and contrived way in my honest opinion, but it's still a worthy effort, and certainly worth seeing.
all of that is preconception that can be discarded when weighed against the strength of the performances put in; there are a lot of raised voices, serious moody introspection, a wide range of emotions and reactions and a sense of realism and plausibility lent to the situations of comfortable home life, bitter hermit life, public school in the staffroom, classroom and playground, all strung together expertly by a waspish and somewhat insightful narrative delivered by the desperate and manipulative Barbara. it's a credit to them all that Dench can portray so convincingly a lonely, isolated, regretful and tragically vicious old woman trying to forge some sort of warmth out of her calculating web of secrets, Blanchett can portray a liberal, beautiful but weak and easily tempted young teacher, Nighy a happy, logical optimist husband who goes to astonished and dismayed pieces when his wife's societally unacceptable crime comes to light and even Simpson gives a good performance as the headstrong and somewhat overconfident, animal boy who gets some Sheba.
this brings me to the flaws, which are subjectively observed ones pertaining to the plot / message balance but which i think affect the film detrimentally. first of all, Steven is predatory and Sheba is the weak and passionately seduced maiden in their relationship which is as such to offer debate about the nature of paedophilia and how it isn't necessarily as clear cut as the law or media insist it is in every case, but the ease with which she believes his smugly delivered woe-is-me story uncovers her flaws far too readily and threaten to detract from that debate; Barbara's knowledge would also suggest a far more cleverly manipulative and devastating problem for Sheba, but the focus is really on Barbara's own weakness, and as such she pines for attention when her cat dies and when she doesn't get it, clumsily and riskily deals the blow to a fellow teacher interested in Sheba himself. this brings the media and her head teacher down on her hard.
when she takes Sheba in, Sheba finds a page of her insidious and lonely diary in the bin? you think such a manipulative woman would keep such damaging material more safely concealed, or just destroyed. all of this puts more focus on Barbara's weakness. the film ends with a status quo that is revealed shortly after it begins, which is even more contrived as Barbara has suffered an embarrassing and violently delivered rejection to compound her incompatibility with people, and the school has suffered a second underage teacher relationship scandal, both of which would be reasonably expected to give more lasting damage.
a better plot for me would have been a more genuinely vulnerable boy and a less easily manipulated Sheba screwing, followed by a less vulnerable Barbara finding out, and then a tense friendship / power struggle between Barbara and Sheba which tests the growing need of the vulnerable boy she's seduced, the acceptance of her family and her own ability to hide the affair and cope with her own growing shame and guilt, and the damnation of her school and the law and media when it inevitably finally comes out, Barbara's manipulation of Sheba exhausted leading to her cruel humiliation, that could backfire with the revelation that she's an accomplice etc. that's just my suggestion; i'm simply angling for something more subtle and less contrived then that which we got. British drama in my experience is less ambiguous and more direct, as it is in this film. at least it's not dumbed down, albeit somewhat contrived.
it's still a good film. it's acted brilliantly and engagingly, Blanchett, Dench and Nighy convincing the viewer that they're Sheba, Barbara and Richard, along with everyone else presenting great characterisation. the cinematography and score and production are superb and it's an interesting project. the plot and debate within the film are flawed and presented in a slightly clumsy and contrived way in my honest opinion, but it's still a worthy effort, and certainly worth seeing.