Notes on a Scandal

2006
15
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

87K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

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Dark Romance Crime Drama Romance Thriller

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her fifteen-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well ... Read allA veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her fifteen-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond a platonic friendship.A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her fifteen-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond a platonic friendship.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

87K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,641

1,772

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 16 wins & 74 nominations total

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Photos96

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Storyline

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Trivia
Juno Temple's first major role and her first audition. When she first told her parents she wanted to be an actress, they tried to talk her out of it saying "You can't just step into this and be good. You will have to work and you will have to fight for it." Her mom sent her to an open audition for this film to show her how much competition she'd have. But then Temple got hired. She got hired again a year later on her very next audition for Atonement (2007). At that point, her mom said, "Fucking hell, well, surely it goes downhill after this?" It didn't. She ended up being cast in films and on TV almost every year.

Goofs
When Sheba is rampaging through Barbara's house in search of her journal, you can see a crew member in the mirror behind her as she goes to sit.

Quotes
Barbara Covett: People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it's like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: The Best Films of 2006 (2006)

Soundtracks
Funky Kingston
Written by Toots Hibbert (as Frederick Hibbert)
Performed by Toots & The Maytals (as Toots and the Maytals)
Produced by Leslie Kong
Reproduced by kind permission of Blue Mountain Music Ltd.
Administered by Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd. (c) 1971
Courtesy of Universal-Island Records Ltd.
Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd.
Courtesy of D&F Music Frederick Hibbert

User reviews321

Featured review

9/10

Brill, Dark, Witty....and "Marvelously Judi Dench/Cate Blanchett"

NOTES ON A SCANDAL is a Judi Dench "triumph" of brilliant wit, pain and a satanic passion for a woman out of reach in Cate Blanchett. Her "Judas" to her supposed friend and fellow teacher is an acting performance which will land Ms. Dench right back in "Oscar country". Too bad it is in the same year as Helen Mirren's magnificent "Queen" as Dench gives a show here in NOTES ON A SCANDAL that leaves you quite breathless to the last and final scene and fade out.

Patrick Marber delivers a deliciously wicked, witty and crisply written script in NOTES, and it only enhances his reputation for giving an audience a story well developed and with characters that you can't take your eyes off on the screen. His writing in CLOSER was so brilliant and clever, but in NOTES ON A SCANDAL he hands Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett words that are zingers and with a strong blend of anger, pain and humor. Please, Patrick, gives us another film quickly! The "teacher/student" romance was well developed and the chemistry between the two actors was believable and very sexual, and one could understand the youthful passion delivered by a young man with a strong mind and body. I did at times have to listen carefully to the young actor's lines, but he delivered them like a pro.

In the weeks ahead, I anticipate a "roar from the crowd" for this very dark and witty Judi Dench performance and who knows, she may upset "The Crown" in the end come Oscar time.

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