Notes on a Scandal

Love this movie. Is it on Netflix? I saw it on HBO several years ago.

One of my favorite movies of all time. So many delicious quotes:

Sheba's husband: Poor, poor pussy. Now let's GO!

Teacher from school: Has Sheba ever expressed any interest in me? Barbara (who just buried her dead cat): Let me think for a minute...no, never.

Sheba: You want to FUCK ME, Barbara?

Sheba: I could get TWO YEARS! Barbara: They'll fly by!

Sheba: You don't even LIKE me! Barbara: That's not true. I only have tender feelings for you!

I love it.

My BF thinks I'm weird because I've watched it over & over.

The book's good too...and quite different.

I wish the young boy was cuter.

Favorite scene? The one when she tries to stop her going to her kid's play because of her cat. 'Someone's died!"

Sheba's Daughter: I'm fat as fuck mum.

Judi Dench's character is wickedness personified, but I can't help identifying with her a bit.

Angela Lansbury said she would have killed for the part in that movie.

Me too, r4. I feel so badly for her in the scene where she's taking a bath and ruminating on what it's like to be totally alone, to not know the touch of a loved one, and to want it so bad that just a bus driver's hand brushing against your own can send a shiver up your spine. Judi's voiceover describing this is so perfect.

[quote]Judi Dench's character is wickedness personified, but I can't help identifying with her a bit.

As Jesus said, 'Know thyself'.

I know it's a tired old cliche but I love when she's in the staff room and she declines sugar in her tea and the teacher says 'Sweet enough?' Her tight little face.

Also her monologue when the kids are arriving for the new term.

"You're not YOUNG!"

What happens at the end?

It's a gold star day.

God I love that movie.

Great film. I have watched it a half dozen times.

"You're barking fucking mad. You don't know how to love! You've never your whole life. Me, Jennifer Dodd...you're nothing but waste, and disappointment. You bitter old virgin! You're lonely for a reason...they LOATHED you at school. All of them! I was the idiot who bothered, but only because no one told me you're a fucking VAMPIRE!"

"Notes" is like "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" -- no matter how many times I see it, I still stop and watch if I come across it on TV.

The book is really good too. I Zoe Heller is a great writer.

New episode tonight.

[quote]The team makes a shocking discovery while investigating the mole; Fitz orders Jake to keep Olivia safe; Cyrus must clean up after Mellie's ultimatum.

Jesus wept, specter at the feast!

"Someone has died!" and "You're not young" are two of the greatest line readings ever. I gay gasped in the theater the first time I saw Dench hiss "Someone has died!" She should have won the Oscar.

She was totally robbed that award season. The Queen was basically a Lifetime movie.

I love the line, "So I'm to handled, am I? Like toxic waste?"

And I love the complete line, "You're not young! I say this to help you."

I meant, "So I'm to be handled am I? Like toxic waste."

One more: "Her preference is for the younger man. Much younger. Boys, I'm told."

Judi Dench kicks butt in this movie. She deserved the Oscar over Helen Mirren, as wonderful as she was as The Queen. But Dench's role was so much more difficult. I think it's the best work she's done on film.

[R14] That is me all over the place when either Anne of a Thousand Days or The Hangover is on.

My favorite moment is Blanchett tearing out of her apartment into the mob and roaring, 'Here I am!!!!!'. That had me howling in the theatre.

Watching it on HBO right now. Dame Judy's character could be a DLer

Her last "friend" had a restraining order on her. Barbara is deliciously terrible.

The acting is tremendous.

Cate was at her peak, beautywise.

The "You're not young" scene:

WHET the young actor who's character had an affair with Blanchet's?

Did Judi Dench have work after that movie. She looks better now.

And yes, Cate Blanchett looked stunning in it.

In a case like that, what if she and the boy both denied it happened. If you don't have proof how could you prosecute?

R31 I always assumed the boy cracked and confessed to his parents.

Lasagna tends to disagree with my bowels. I'll ask for a small portion.

Angela Lansbury said she would have walked over glass for Judi Dench part

Angie's one smart lady. She said after Murder, She Wrote that she was hoping for just one more good, juicy movie role. Either that one or the title role in Driving Miss Daisy would have fit the bill.

A GOLD STAR day. I always knew we'd be friends!

Worth watching for Judi Denchs performance, but Cate Blancett was very mediocre and unbelievable in it. Movie was OK, but not great.

R25 : "Dame Judy's character could be a DLer."

HA! Indeed.

If Big Ang Lansbury had done the role, I bet she would have given Helen Mirren a run for her money for the Oscar.

R39 Angie also said while she would have killed for that part, she says Brits don't consider her for films in Britain.

Since she gave up her British citizenship, she doesn't get offered role from Britain. because these films would lose tax credits because of her non-British status.

One of my favorite movies of all time. The acting is great all around... but Judi Dench knocks it out of the park.

I've never seen it - shamefully - but happened to Tivo it the other week. Now I know it's a DL classic (or DL classic in the making) I'll make sure to rectify that.

"You've cost me my family! I COULD GET TWOOOOOO YEARS!!!!"

"THEY'LL FLLLLLLLLY BY!!!!!!!! I'VE VISIT YOU EVERY WEEK!!!!!!! WE'VE SO MUCH LIIIIIFE TO LIVE TOGETHER!!!!!!!"

Judi was lucky to get that part, because if Glenda Jackson hadn't retired from acting, Dench would not have even been considered.

It is one of my favourite movies and also a great adaptation of a good book. Strangely, the lesbian overtones are much heightening in the movie - in the book, the whole relationship is more complicated. Great lines, great characters and great perfomances.

We never invited you to the fucking Dordogne!

I've known women like Barbara. They're drawn to me or used to be. I'm older and wiser now.

Thanks for reviving this thread R33 and with such a great line.

I love the way the daughter asks Barbara if she's going somewhere because she's all dressed up. 'I've an appointment in town later'.

The DVD extras are ghastly. Just everyone going on about what fabulous actors everyone else is.

Also Blanchett always looks way too good even if she's going through unimaginable stress.

[quote]I gay gasped in the theater the first time I saw Dench hiss "Someone has died!"

This is as good a line as any in the film. Well done.

The trailer's great! Terrifying, actually.

Do you want to fuck me, Barbara?!

That's probably one of my favorite lines from any movie.

[quote] Angela Lansbury said she would have walked over glass for Judi Dench part

Who told you this?

[quote]Angela Lansbury said she would have walked over glass for Judi Dench part

Over my dead body...literally!

"There's nothing crueler than the adolescent boy- I know them."

Me too, honey- me too.

On BBC radio a few weeks ago the director Stephen Frears said that on the set of Philomena he once asked "Anybody got Helen Mirren's number?" when Judi fucked up a take. Judi was not amused AT ALL. Probably only because Helen got the Oscar and BAFTA in the year that Judi deserved them most of all.

Hilarious R54

Merde, I haven't seen this film yet and just watched the trailer. A trailer that lays out what seems like the entire plot.

One of the best movies ever. Judi Dench is amazing with what she can do with dialogue and Cate Blanchett is so beautiful it takes your breath away.

BTW this film is available on Amazon Instant Video.

OMG thank you DL. Just watched this great film. My lord Judi Dench is not to be believed - the subtle changes in her face as she painfully reacts to Sheba's words. Genius.

We didn't invite you to the fucking Dordogne!

Of course you did. You said to stop by if I was in France.

We didn't mean it!

Alright then, I won't.

It's a real shame the English are so fucking nervous about making films about the London middle classes.

If they weren't there'd be many more films of this quality.

I'd like to see a miniseries about Barbara's earlier life with someone like Samantha Morton playing her.

I get a feeling that Sheba is not supposed to be very bright, but Cate B. did not play her that way. She played her as confused and naive.

I wonder if the story was inspired by the Mary Kay Laterneau case. Her student, Villi, was also very artistic, which she encouraged. And, of course, they ended up having a sexual affair.

Hey, if he's got feathers down there- he's ready to fly.

Why were they wearing tissue paper crowns at the Xmas dinner? Is that a British tradition, or that particular family's? It looked silly.

It's a British tradition, R64. I have never failed to be amused walking past various restaurants and seeing businessmen wearing those silly paper tissue crown hats at pre-Christmas lunches.

Yes and if you don't wear them you're made to feel like a party pooper.

So you have to feel like an idiot for the whole dinner so as not to look like a party pooper. It's your choice.

I love Cate Blanchett! Hopefully her new movie with Mia Waisichovski will be more if the same campiness. Cate looks gorgeous even when she's playing a rude idiot. Annnnddd I hope there's tons of nudity since both actresses are of age.

If you have Cinemax, it's playing on demand

The Brits have these things called Christmas crackers, which are like small packages tightly rolled in thin wrapping paper and tied at each end. They "pop" when you pull them, and they have paper crowns inside which you wear after popping the cracker.

if they had cast Angela Lansbury, they would have had a bigger audience and Lansbury would have won the Oscar. She's excellent at darker roles (cf. Picture of Dorian Gray, Manchurian Candidate), which people have forgotten... most people would have been so surprised she could do that kind of part she would have won the Oscar.

This is one of the few genuinely good and unusual roles, though, Dench has had in the last twenty years. She's almost always playing variants on the strict and exacting grande dame--she phones in roles like Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

The daughter is a pocket princess and the boy is a tiresome court jester!

I know I'm going to hell for this, but the kid with Down syndrome was fucking annoying (especially when interacting with Bill N's character)

Angela Lansbury was way too old for the role, R70. She's playing an ageing school teacher in the brink of retirement but not quite there yet. She had to have a sort of sexual menace, even if of the ugly kind. AL would make no sense for this.

And at least in Europe, AL is mostly known for "Murder She, Wrote" and shouldnt by herself attract more audiences than Judy Dench.

Oh dear, R72.

This movie reminds me of why I much prefer any performance by Judi Dench over any performance by overrated performers like Meryl Streep.

Glenda Jackson would have won a third Oscar for this. Love Judi but Glenda's on another level.

[quote]I love Cate Blanchett! Hopefully her new movie with Mia Waisichovski will be more if the same campiness.

I was really looking forward to this too. Unfortunately it seems Rooney Mara has replaced Mia.

No matter who played the part, it is unlikely anyone would have beaten Helen Mirren for The Queen.

It was her make-up Oscar after two loses

I'll take Rooney over Mia any day, R76. Mia is fucking bland. At least Rooney has a distinct presence.

So was Barbara the archetypal "predatory lesbian"? Or did she just enjoy destroying the lives of those prettier and sexier than she?

At one point she complains the only action she got is when a (male?) physician accidentally brushed her arm and it went right to her groin.

Straight? Bi? One character (her sister?) gingerly asks her "Is there someone new" since the previous young thing ran away. And she shuts her down instantly. Self-loathing gay?

It's currently on Netflix...right now!

What a fucking delicious movie! I had only seen it once in the theater when it came out but I just watched it again this evening. Judi and Cate are to die for.

Where are ya? I've been dreamin' about your hot, sweet cunt all morning!

What is it with English males and "cunt?" In "Atonement", Robbie writes a note to his object of lust Cecelia. They've never dated, never shared a kiss, were brought up in the same household almost like brother and sister, but he writes that "in my dreams I kiss your cunt, your sweet, wet cunt." He wisely decides not to send her that one, but the dumbfuck puts the wrong version in an envelope and gives it to her precocious younger sister to deliver to her and...well, that story doesn't end well, either.

Couldn't believe that the lad was American! He isn't Irish. Great accent. I love when she says out of the blue something along the lines of (yet we all know what it means): "We don't have a summer home in the Dordogne!"

R84, what are you talking about? The actor is from Northern Ireland.

[quote]Judi Dench's character is wickedness personified, but I can't help identifying with her a bit.

You is funny.

[quote]I gay gasped in the theater the first time I saw Dench hiss "Someone has died!" She should have won the Oscar.

You is funny too.

R9 THE CABLE GUY REDUX

I love this movie so much and have watched it many times. Judi is beyond fabulous.

Watched it for the first time yesterday. Very interesting movie, well-acted. But what fell flat for me was the ending. (SPOILER AHEAD)

Barbara meets her next young conquest when she's reading a newspaper article about Sheba being sent to prison, and opens the conversation by saying she knew her and worked with her. Wouldn't any decent newspaper story on Sheba include references to all the parties involved in the scandal, including Barb? It just seemed to me that she was so entrenched in Sheba's life and the controversy that anyone familiar with the story would know who she was.

R90 I wondered that, too. It also reminded me of the ending of THE CABLE GUY, which further cheapened the finale for me. Great, thrilling movie otherwise.

Lots of great lines but my favorite is when Barbara calls her to talk about Billy Connelly and Sheba says who?

"Let's not, shall we?"

Campfest? I adored it OP. It won awards as well

Just watched this last night and thought it was fucking brilliant. Dench was incredible as bitter bitch Barbara.

“...another delicious gold star day...”

I read the book way before a movie was announced, and Judi and Cate were who I pictured in my head when I read it. I was thrilled when they were announced to be in the film, and they were perfect, especially Judi. I haven't seen it in a few years; I need to watch it again!

I agree they were perfect. I wonder if Winslet was in the running at any point to play Sheba?

Bump for Barb

Dench was excellent in the role and deserved every award over Mirren's unbelievably overrated performance in The Queen.