Critic Reviews
Notes on a Scandal (2006) Rank 3 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (168) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Poor
0
(0)
Reviews by Score:
The Irish Times
IT'S hard to imagine a brainstorming meeting in a Hollywood boardroom where anyone might ever suggest casting the venerable Dame Judi Dench in the role of a stalker. Full credit, then, to Richard Eyre who directed Dench as Iris Murdoch in Iris - for ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Irish Times
BBC Films
Shrewdly adapted from Zoë Heller's best-selling novel, Notes On A Scandal grabs your attention with a gentle touch and refuses to let go. Judi Dench is truly spellbinding as the dumpy schoolteacher hiding an iron fist in a velvet glove to wheedle her ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at BBC Films
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) has a gift for sizing people up — at least, she thinks she does. A spinsterish history teacher with an intense attachment to her cat, she delights in her disdain for others. But a new colleague, art instructor Sheba Hart ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Times of London
Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Zoë Heller’s 2003 novel, Notes on a Scandal, is screenwriting at its vicious best. There is a queasy sense of doom when we clap eyes on Judi Dench’s grim and cynical history teacher as she sizes up the exotic new art ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Times of London
Comingsoon.net
The psychological thriller has been a cinematic mainstay for good reason, because really, there's nothing more exciting than seeing what seems like a normal life or relationship falling apart and then seeing what people get up to when something like ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Comingsoon.net
The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw)
With some audacity, the spirits of both Hitchcock and Nabokov are invoked in this delectable adaptation of Zoë Heller's Booker-shortlisted novel. It's a psychological thriller about an ageing history teacher in a north London state school with a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw)
Washington Post (Stephen Hunter)
The joke goes something like this: "Authorities today indicted eighth-grade teacher Melissa J. Smith, 34, of Bethesda on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly having sexual relations with a male student. In a related ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Washington Post (Stephen Hunter)
The Arizona Republic
For the most part, Dench and director Richard Eyre (who worked with her on Iris) are successful in making us loathe Barbara, though her sins are trumped by those of her would-be paramour, Sheba (Blanchett), a married rookie art teacher who has an ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Arizona Republic
Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)
But Sheba has other inclinations. A 15-year-old boy with nerve makes passes at her and, intrigued by the sexual attention, she succumbs. (I had no such luck as that lad when I was in school.) When Barbara catches them, she is not only shocked but seizes ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)
Film Journal International (Ethan Alter)
Published in 2003, Zoë Heller's epistolary novel What Was She Thinking? (Notes on a Scandal) is a juicy update of John Fowles' 1963 classic The Collector. In fact, Heller's "heroine," the superbly named Barbara Covett, could be a relative of Frederick ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Film Journal International (Ethan Alter)
The Dallas Morning News
Erin, 23, arrives at Long Beach's Wilson High School eager to make a difference for the inner-city kids enrolled as part of a post-Rodney King integration program. She soon finds out what Snoop Dog meant about too much drama in the LBC. Gang violence is ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Dallas Morning News
Cinema Blend
"I wonder if she possesses a requisite heft," muses Barbara (Judi Dench) when the new attractive art teacher, Sheba (Cate Blanchett), begins working at her suburban British school. Barbara, a history teacher for several decades, narrates the film ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Cinema Blend
Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
Judi Dench landed herself quite the juicy role in Notes on a Scandal. In it, she plays Barbara, a tough school teacher who's seen it all, filling in the audience with her cynical observations on the students and the faculty around her as the story begins. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
You’d think that the title -- Notes on a Scandal-- would clue you in to what you’re in store for with this wonderfully beguiling, deviously absorbing film. Scandal! In all its deliciousness! But it takes a long while, actually, before it suddenly ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
FirstShowing.net (Alex Billington)
Hidden among the much more publicized films of the Holiday season was an English present-day thriller that revolves around two female characters with vast depth. Notes on a Scandal, directed by Sir Richard Eyre of many British theater productions and TV ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at FirstShowing.net (Alex Billington)
PopMatters
Part melodrama and part dark comedy, Notes on a Scandal is full of sly wit. Framed by the perspective of public school history teacher Barbara (Judi Dench), the movie follows her evolving infatuation with a new, younger colleague, art teacher Sheba (Cate ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at PopMatters
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Zoe Heller's delicious "What Was She Thinking?" novel is the source work, though hgers is a double-edged title. Barbara is the one to whose twisted thoughts we're privy — and which are frighteningly commanding. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Time Out
Barbara Covett is a lonely spinster whose life briefly brightens when the young and beautiful Sheba Hart comes to work at her school. But friendship soon turns into unhealthy obsession, and when Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with one ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Time Out
Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Based on the Zoe Heller novel, this internalised dramatic thriller makes the most of subtly perceptive writing, directing and acting. As a result, the tale of obsession becomes chilling and utterly gripping.
Barbara (Dench) is a veteran teacher at a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Daniel Neman)
The battle for the Oscar for best actress just got more interesting.
With her brilliant, multidimensional and subtly nuanced performance in "Notes on a Scandal," Judi Dench joins Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep in the best field of actresses in ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Richmond Times-Dispatch (Daniel Neman)
London Daily Mirror (David Edwards)
If you thought Judi Dench had given her greatest-ever performance in Mrs Brown, think again. In this chilling little revenge drama, the Dame dazzles in a role quite unlike anything she’s attempted before. Creepy and unsettling, she may just surprise us ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at London Daily Mirror (David Edwards)
eFilmCritic.com (Jay Seaver)
At least in her work that has shown up in America in recent years, Dame Judi Dench has mostly managed to avoid the "poisonous, meddlesome spinster" roles. This kind of surprises me, since they're generally small but memorable parts, the sort of thing ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Jay Seaver)
eFilmCritic.com (Brian Orndorf)
"Notes on a Scandal" is drama on the most flamboyant scale imaginable, and that's why the picture is so entertaining. Truly, this is an Ali vs. Foreman fight between two of the craft's best actresses; they scheme, shove, and scream their way through this ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Brian Orndorf)
ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
Superbly directed, utterly compelling drama with a strong script and deservedly Oscar-nominated performances from both Dench and Blanchett. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
Empire (Olly Richards)
Intelligent, classy and skin-crawling. You won't see a better acting masterclass this year. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Empire (Olly Richards)
Washington Post (Stephen Hunter)
Offers what is possibly the only intelligent account of such a disaster ever constructed, with a point of view that is somewhat gimlet-eyed and offered with absolutely no sentimentality whatsoever. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Washington Post (Stephen Hunter)
In Film Australia (Luke Buckmaster)
MovieWeb (Evan "Mushy" Jacobs)
Filmtracks (Christian Clemmensen)
filmcritic.com (Don Willmott)
Village Voice (Robert Wilonsky)
Notes on a Scandal, brilliantly adapted by Patrick Marber from the darkly comic Zo Heller novel, is a grim piece of work -- "Fatal Attraction" for the art-house crowd, shorn of its predecessor's fearful misogyny. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Village Voice (Robert Wilonsky)
In this the strong and disturbing story of
two school teachers Barbara (Judi Dench) befriends
and subtly controls her Sheba (Cate Blanchett). When
Barbara discovers Sheba's indiscretion with one of
her students she is able to ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at
<<dnb@dca.net>>
In the film, Dame Judi Dench (familiar to many, primarily, as "M" in the James Bond films but herself coming armed with a resume that boasts more than a few memorable performances over some three score movies) plays Barbara Covett, a veteran history ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at <<dnb@dca.net>>
Cinopsis
Enseignante, à la veille de la retraite dans un collège de Londres, Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) n’a rien d’autre dans sa vie que son travail et un chat. Sa solitude prend fin avec l’arrivée du nouveau professeur d’art, Sheba Hart (Cate ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Cinopsis
In Review (Adam Suraf)
The scandal in question in director Richard Eyre and writer Patrick Marber’s adaptation of the 2003 Zoe Heller novel involves a married art teacher who is caught by her possessive older friend having an affair with a 15-year-old student, leading to a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at In Review (Adam Suraf)
Cinema Signals by The Filmiliar Cineaste
All the elements of overheated passion and crosswinds of forbidden erotic attraction are brought to the screen and elevated from a Harlequin novel sensationalism to a somewhat satisfying artistic level by the talents of its superb actors.
The figure ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Cinema Signals by The Filmiliar Cineaste
San Diego Metropolitan (Jean Lowerison)
Starchy and aging teacher Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) has an acid tongue, a nonexistent sex life and an active imagination, which she confides to her diary. “People have always trusted me with their secret,” she writes. “But who did I trust with ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at San Diego Metropolitan (Jean Lowerison)
The Observer (Philip French)
The movie business recognises no such thing as an unfilmable book. In some cases, just the title is bought and a story invented, as with Sex and the Single Girl, or, in the case of Ernest Hemingway's The Killers, added on. When serious artists are ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Observer (Philip French)
In this the strong and disturbing story of two school teachers Barbara (Judi Dench) befriends and subtly controls her Sheba (Cate Blanchett). When Barbara discovers Sheba's indiscretion with one of her students she is able to make Sheba her puppet ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Much of the content in "Notes on a Scandal" is distasteful and off-putting. Which seems peculiar since other aspects of the film, particularly some of the performances, go down so well.
That's especially true of Judi Dench, who plays one of the ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
If you want to see explosive acting, just watch Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett ignite in this film version of Zoe Heller's 2003 novel. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
These world-class actresses use their instruments to hit all the right notes in this marvelous melodrama, and the result is scandalously entertaining. Oscar-level thesps Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett have a collective field day in this intense ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Barbara (Dame Judi Dench) is a veteran and cynical schoolteacher who is near the end of her career. She is barely tolerated by her less brilliant and acerbic colleagues who know nothing about her private life which consists mainly of taking care of ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
Notes on a Scandal isn’t deep. It’s chilly and mean and takes a largely dim view of humanity. None of which prevents it from being good, nasty fun. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
Leave it to the first-class actors dining out on those roles to make the cat and the mouse interesting and unpredictable. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Though at heart a tightly-wound, bitterly bleak comedy of manners, Eyre's film is less funny than brilliantly squirm-inducing, a dissection of bad behavior via rapier-sharp dialogue. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Notes on a Scandal may be disturbing, but it is a potent and captivating account of misconduct and betrayal. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Boulder Weekly (Thomas Delapa)
Oscar voters, take note: Notes on a Scandal contains two of the best female performances of 2006. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Boulder Weekly (Thomas Delapa)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Director Richard Eyre's dreadful disease-of-the-week film Iris (2001) was pitched to critics as a year-end award movie, and they took the bait; the film won an Oscar. Now Eyre is back with another year-end film, but this time its sleazy, low-down ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Richard Eyre's ("Iris"/"Stage Beauty") nasty sex scandal drama is based on the 2003 novel "What Was She Thinking?" by Zoe Heller. The screenplay is by playwright Patrick Marber, that serves to answer in blunt terms the question the book poses in ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Movie Picture Film (Scott Hoffman)
World Socialist Web Site
Notes on a Scandal, directed by Richard Eyre, screenplay by Patrick Marber, based on the novel by Zoë Heller; The Painted Veil, directed by John Curran, screenplay by Ron Nyswaner, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham
A lonely, ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at World Socialist Web Site
St. Paul Pioneer Press (Chris Hewitt)
It's a movie about power: the power the student has over Blanchett and, especially, the power Dench has over Blanchett. "Notes" wants to investigate the unhappiness of Dench's character, strongly implying that it is rooted in her confused sexuality, and ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at St. Paul Pioneer Press (Chris Hewitt)
The Onion A.V. Club
A lot is right about Notes On A Scandal, starting with Judi Dench's performance as a bitter spinster teacher, alternately enraged and titillated by the actions of a young colleague, Cate Blanchett, who has an affair with one of her teenage students. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Onion A.V. Club
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
The story shows up on a regular basis these days: A teacher is caught and/or confesses to having a sexual relationship with a student. After the initial reaction of disgust and dismay, people typically ask themselves one question: ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
The best vampire movie I've seen in years. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Film Blather (Eugene Novikov)
Theoretical genre considerations aside, though, Notes on a Scandal doesn't quite work. Dench's Barbara Covett lacks the true menace to make her into an effective villain, and the recognizable humanity to make the lack of menace irrelevant. Much of the ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Film Blather (Eugene Novikov)
Creative Loafing (Matt Brunson)
Think of it as Masterpiece Theatre filtered through Days of Our Lives . ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Creative Loafing (Matt Brunson)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Lurid but skillful melodrama set in England about a lonely history teacher (Judi Dench) whose unhealthy interest in an attractive younger art teacher (Cate Blanchett) leads her to help conceal the latter's reprehensible affair with a determined ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Based on the 2003 novel by Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal tells the tale of a married London schoolteacher named Sheba Hart (Blanchett, Babel), who enters into an illicit affair with a 15-year-old student at her school, Steven Connolly (Simpson). The ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
The build-up in this movie is actually too good for its ending, but that's also no reason to skip out on a wonderful turn from Dench. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
The New Yorker (David Denby)
A wonderfully entertaining movie. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The New Yorker (David Denby)
The Baltimore Sun
Real intimacy has become so rare in today's movies that the fake intimacy of Notes on a Scandal may take you in, then leave you feeling rooked. Seldom has so much first-rate acting and top ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Baltimore Sun
outrate.net (Mark Adnum)
Barbara religiously records her every thought and experience in the diaries she has kept since childhood, and we hear a lot of it in Dench's clipped voiceover throughout the film. Though she doesn't have a positive word to say about anyone or anything, ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at outrate.net (Mark Adnum)
Planet Sick-Boy (Jon Popick)
What begins as a “ripped from the headlines” story of a working class North London school where the new art teacher (Cate Blanchett) has an affair with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson) slowly becomes a simmering melodrama when the dalliance is ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Planet Sick-Boy (Jon Popick)
Tiscali UK
Based on Zoe Heller's best-selling 2003 novel of the same name (although it went under the moniker What Was She Thinking? in the United States), Richard Eyre's latest film has a very nasty lead character making the most of a very nasty ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Tiscali UK
TotalFilm
“You live in a flat off the Archway Road and think you’re Virginia Woolf?” says disgraced teacher Cate Blanchett to colleague Judi Dench, on discovering through the latter’s spiteful memoirs how much a part she has played in her very public ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at TotalFilm
Moviepie.com
Dench stars as Barbara Covett, a stern and spinsterly history teacher at a British high school, who’s tolerated and respected—but not particularly liked—by her colleagues. Having taught for more than three decades, she’s something of an ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Moviepie.com
sneersnipe (David Perilli)
Something that is perfectly composed and formed can sometimes just seem to avoid brilliance. Not that lasting enjoyment can be reached in such a situation but that the sum of the parts is something short of the supposed total. Thus we have Notes on a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at sneersnipe (David Perilli)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Steven Rea)
What it lacks, though, is any sense that these people - are real. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Steven Rea)
Premiere (Glenn Kenny)
If the resultant wreckage is a little underwhelming, and the film's coda useless and trite, the getting there is pretty absorbing. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Premiere (Glenn Kenny)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
The most important part of any thriller - even one as upper crust as this - is the resolution, and that's where Notes on a Scandal falls on its face. The ending itself isn't bad but the single act leading to it is unforgivable. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Rick Groen)
We're left with the weakest part of the novel -- the lurching and often melodramatic plot -- plus the chance to see two splendid actors, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, do the best they can with what they're given (sadly, in Blanchett's case, not much). ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Rick Groen)
Boxoffice Magazine
A story ripped from the headlines, this heavy-handed drama from director Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty, Iris) stars Cate Blanchett as Sheba, a bohemian pottery sculptor who takes a job as an art teacher at a private school in London. Younger than her ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
New York Magazine (David Edelstein)
Notes on a Scandal is another squirm-und-drang movie: too creepy-sad to be a comedy, too intense to watch quietly, without letting out frequent whoops. The score, by Philip Glass, is a study in egregiousness—the usual busy undercurrents with a top ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at New York Magazine (David Edelstein)
Slant Magazine
or those surprising very few who think Helen Mirren is completely miscast in Stephen Frears's overrated trifle The Queen, Exhibit A of why is illustrated in Judi Dench's ultimate depiction of corpulent geriatric cunning in Notes on a Scandal. To play a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Slant Magazine
First-person novels—particularly epistolary novels, whether in the form of letters or diary entries or (more commonly nowadays) e-mail—rarely translate well to film, but for some reason that never seems to dissuade anybody from trying. Notes on a ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at
Orlando Weekly (John Thomason)
There isn’t much of an auteurist stamp on Notes on a Scandal, but its collective of on- and off-screen talent contribute some of their finest work. It’s hard to imagine the film without the Philip Glass score, which, like his equally stunning work on ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Orlando Weekly (John Thomason)
Houston Chronicle (Amy Biancolli)
Dramatic overstatement saturates just about every piece of this production. Even that master of orchestral pop minimalism, Philip Glass, managed to write a score that slinks into the dark shadows of old gothic witchery. ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Houston Chronicle (Amy Biancolli)
CineScene.com (Chris Knipp)
Why does this story of pinched desire and mindless indiscretion, for all its color and life, feel glib and superficial? Perhaps it's disadvantaged by being a celebrity project, with two overexposed superstars, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, both playing ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at CineScene.com (Chris Knipp)
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Notes on a Scandal is a lurid psychodrama cleverly dressed up in art house garb. It plumbs the recesses of pathetic and sordid human behavior with a wry combination of gleeful deliciousness and arty pretension, making it the movie equivalent of a grocery ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
No matter what kind of odor remover you use in an attempt to disguise your trash, the stench is bound to leak through sooner or later. That common knowledge might have been valuable to everyone involved with Notes on a Scandal, although in all likelihood ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
<dnb@dca.net>
As the inimitable Oscar Hammerstein II once observed, "There Is
Nothin' Like A Dame," and that remark never rang truer than when applied
to "Notes on a Scandal," an uncomfortably edgy new thriller from
director Richard Eyre ("Stage Beauty," ...read the complete Notes on a Scandal movie review at <dnb@dca.net>
The Movie Boy (Dustin Putman)
from $6.06 (15 sellers)
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! My Web
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
ma.gnolia
Newsvine
reddit
Windows Live