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Written by: Patrick Marber (screenplay), Zoë Heller (novel)
Directed by: Richard Eyre
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Andrew Simpson, Bill Nighy, Juno Temple
Rated: R
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Plot
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" go well beyond a platonic friendship.
Verdict
It's a superbly acted character study. A likely repressed, bitter old woman manipulates a younger teacher into a friendship through blackmail. What seems like jealousy at first, starts to become an unhealthy obsession as we learn more about the older woman and wonder about her true intentions. All of that is on top of the younger teacher's inappropriate relationship with a student. Both are unhealthy relationships.
Watch It.
Review
Barbara (Judi Dench) is a jaded and critical veteran teacher. She doesn't seem to like students, other teachers, or even the world. When new art teacher Sheba (Cate Blanchett) begins the term there seems to be a bit of jealousy from Barbara. Sheba is the pretty, young teacher that's garnering interest from everyone. At first I thought Barbara was jealous of the popularity. Is her disdain for the world her way of coping; creating a wall between her everyone and everything.
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| Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett play Barbara, Sheba |
Barbara discovers Sheba's secret, a relationship with a student, and Barbara decides to begin a friendship under the guise of guidance. It seems like a means of manipulation, an opportunity to gain power and influence over another. With that, what is Barbara after? They seem like friends and Sheba believes it, but I don't believe Barbara due to the reason she approached Sheba. Barbara saw the affair as leverage, but what does she plan to do with it?
As a bit of foreshadowing, Sheba discovers the student told her a sob story just to manipulate her. Meanwhile Barbara becomes demanding, wanting all of Sheba's attention. She's able to bend Sheba to her will by holding the secret over her.
Barbara seems to be a bitter old lady, seeking friendships with younger women to vent her frustrations. We discover she had another relationship with a young teacher, Jennifer, that ended poorly. Barbara's plan is to make Sheba dependent on her. She has an unhealthy obsession.
Barbara is delusional and that helps frame her relationship with Sheba and with Jennifer. There's a comparison with Barbara fabricating a relationship with Sheba while Sheba pursues a student. Both cases are someone older with influence going after someone younger. Sheba did commit a crime, but there's something devious to what Barbara did. She wanted more than just a relationship.
This is a consideration of two relationships. Sheba is the predator with the student, but Barbara is the predator with Sheba and she's much more devious about it. You can't absolve either one, but you can see the fault in both.
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