Customer Reviews
A sordid and emotionally dishonest film - By: J. Essinger, 22 Jun 2008 
I found this film sordid,depressing,emotionallly dishonest & odious. Apart from Polly (Juno Temple, excellent as usual) & Max Lewis as her brother Ben, no-one in the film is likeable; everyone else is selfish, appetitic & ultimately boring. It is not believable that Cate Blanchett's character would falll for a totallly charmless 15-year-old yobbo whose idea of romance is sending her obscene texts. As for Judy Dench's character Barbara, ultimately she is just a cliched lonely spinster with dark motives, general creepiness, & covert lesbian tendencies.
I cannot understand why anyone would want to make this film. There is next to nothing redeeming about it & it does not illuminate anything. 'The Killing of Sister George' is a much better film on a roughly similar theme, & Beryl Reid's character wins our sympathy,which Barbara never does.
A big disappointment, with three actors - Judy Dench, Cata Blanchett & Bill Nighy, who are absolutely wonderful at their best & should have known better than to be in this.
Notes on a scandal - By: Northern Lass, 09 May 2008 
As expected with a cast of Judi Dench & Cate Blanchet, very easy film to watch. The film kept your attention throughout. Would recommend to alll.
Not brilliant and not bad! - By: the wizard, 03 Apr 2008 
Film was ok. Cate Blanchet & Judy Dench excellent but the Philip Glass score was abysmal & far too loud. I turned off the surround sound & it was still too loud. Real enjoyment of the film was ruined.
Boring - By: Farouq Taj, 31 Mar 2008 
I just found this film boring. Judi Dench is supposed to be a sinister evil spinster but I just found the film progressed too slowly. I simply lost patience before we even reached the half way mark.
How to hate - By: Ivon of Windermere, 15 Mar 2008 
It is a tribute to the acting of Judi Dench that you feel justified in hating her (or rather her character - Barbara).
Right from the first scene the attention is grabbed & you can't wait to see what happens next.
The other main character - Sheba - is played by Cate Blanchett, but when my wife remarked "much better than in her role as Queen Elizabeth" (in Elizabeth the Golden Age), I had not even registered it was the same actress - I was absorbed by the character. In fact I initiallly though of Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love!
I had not read the Zoe Heller novel, so the plot was new to me. My wife had read the book & thought in this case the film is better (whereas normallly the editing process to condense a book to fit the time for a movie loses too much).
Well acted & deserves the award nominations.
