‘People have always trusted me with their secrets. But who do I trust with mine?’ (Barbara Covett, Notes on a Scandal)
Two women caught up in a drama of need and betrayal are at the heart of this psychological thriller, Notes on a Scandal. The twists and turns of the story are noted in the acerbic diary of Barbara Covett (Dame Judi Dench), a domineering and solitary teacher who rules with an iron fist over her classroom at a decaying state-run secondary school in London. Save for her cat, Portia, Barbara lives alone, without friends or confidantes – but her world changes when she meets the school’s new art teacher, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett).
Sheba appears to be the kindred spirit and loyal friend Barbara has always been seeking. But when she discovers that Sheba is having an incendiary affair with one of her young students (Andrew Simpson), their budding relationship takes an ominous turn. Now, as Barbara threatens to expose Sheba’s terrible secret to both her husband (Bill Nighy) and the world, Barbara’s own secrets and dark obsessions come tumbling to the fore, exposing the deceptions at the core of each of the women’s lives.
In this age of loneliness, isolation and disconnect, we live in cities that house millions of people yet everyone at one time or another yearns for companionship, for someone to reach out and connect with us on some level… any level. This is the universal feeling that comes through in Zoë Heller’s 2001 page-turner of a novel, What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal, a suspenseful story of loneliness and obsession that cuts, with equal parts dark humour and realism, right to the shadowy centre of the human yearning for connection. Readers were drawn in by Barbara Covett’s blisteringly funny, yet ultimately deceptive, revelations about her so-called friendship with fellow teacher, Sheba Hart.
Between Sheba’s dangerously ill-conceived affair with a student and Barbara’s own ‘spin’ and hidden agenda, what might have been merely a character study unfolded more like a thriller. Eventually, the book would garner not only widespread acclaim but numerous awards, including being short-listed for the coveted Man Booker Prize for English literature. The rights were quickly acquired by leading producers Scott Rudin and Robert Fox. Rudin had already contracted with leading playwright and screenwriter Patrick Marber to tackle the adaptation.
When Richard Eyre was approached by Rudin and Fox about directing the film version of Notes on a Scandal he, like so many others, had already read the book. Eyre had found it at once funny, touching and beautifully observed – precisely the kind of material that intrigues him. Eyre and Rudin had previously collaborated with great success, along with Judi Dench, on the acclaimed Iris, the film about the extraordinary life-long love affair between the brilliant author Iris Murdoch and her devoted husband, John Bayley as well as the critically lauded stage production Amy’s View. Eyre next directed the critically praised Stage Beauty, a comedy-drama set on the 17th Century London stage, but had since returned to the theatre, directing two highly successful and utterly opposite productions: the new musical stage version of Mary Poppins in London and on Broadway, and his fresh adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic drama Hedda Gabler in London’s West End.
Marber’s adaptation would be challenging, as Heller’s novel was written as a series of highly subjective journal entries in the pen of Barbara Covett which he masterfully crafted as diary entries, slowly revealing through her unreliable words the depths of her delusions and manipulations when it came to Sheba Hart. But based on Marber’s previous body of work, there was no doubt that he was up to the task. He recently came to the fore as the author of the play Closer, a darkly funny look into the realities of love and desire.
Marber had to come up with a way to turn Zoë Heller’s distinctly literary approach to the story of Barbara and Sheba into something far more dynamic, immediate and cinematic. Marber carved the story around the book’s most relevant and pressing theme: the overwhelming isolation that wreaks so much havoc in modern lives, which is the ultimate undoing of Barbara Covett.
Marber began by exploring the story’s two main characters, starting with Barbara, the unforgettable narrator who comes to harbour corrosive secrets about her new ‘best friend,’ Sheba Hart. Marber felt a similarly invigorating conflict towards the character of Sheba. ‘I gave Sheba a slightly more offbeat, bohemian background than she has in the book, but her vulnerabilities and complicated feelings remain the same,’ he comments.
Upon reading the completed screenplay, Richard Eyre was impressed with Marber’s skill at shifting the story from the subtlety of the page to the grander scale of the big screen, turning Barbara’s journal entries into palpably realistic scenes. Also important to Eyre was the screenplay’s honest handling of the highly topical but definitely controversial notion of a middle-aged, married teacher carrying on a torrid affair with her underage student. Ultimately, Eyre was most pleased by how the screenplay seemed to capture the irresistible speed and fearless verve of Heller’s novel, while retaining its rich emotions of laughter, horror and grief – which he knew would be heightened further via the film’s visual style and performances.
‘I really hope people find this film funny, as well as occasionally frightening, shocking and sad,’ Eyre says. ‘There is something at once comical, ghastly and terribly human about this delusion that Barbara has that she will have a passionate, lifelong friendship with Sheba. And Barbara’s feelings for Sheba are analogous to Sheba’s feelings for Steven, the schoolboy. These two women are not in control – any more than any of us are in control when it comes to love.’
Production notes
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Directed by: Richard Eyre
©: DNA Films Ltd
Presented by: Fox Searchlight Pictures, DNA Films Ltd, UK Film Council
In association with: BBC Films, Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP
Made with the support of: National Lottery through UK Film Council, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Executive Producer: Redmond Morris
Produced by: Scott Rudin, Robert Fox
Unit Production Manager: Rachel Neale
Production Co-ordinator: Francesca Castellano
Production Accountant: Shruti Shah
Location Manager: Amanda Stevens
Post-production Supervisor: Polly Duval
1st Assistant Directors: Martin Harrison, Chris Stoaling
2nd 2nd Assistant Director: Charlie Waller
3rd Assistant Director: Heidi Gower
Script Supervisors: Diana Dill, Keziah Barton-White
Casting by: Maggie Lunn, Shaheen Baig, Howard Halsall
Screenplay by: Patrick Marber
Based on the book by: Zoë Heller
Director of Photography: Chris Menges
2nd Unit Lighting Cameraman: Paul Bond
2nd Unit Camera Operator: Paul Bond
Focus Puller: Ben Wilson
Clapper Loaders: Sam Barnes, Urszula Pontikos, Ashley Bond
2nd Camera Assistant: Mark Milsome
Gaffer: Lee Walters
Grip: Gary Hymns
Video Playback: Alex Hobbs
Still Photographer: Clive Coote
Special Effects Co-ordinators: Stuart Brisdon, Mark Haddenham
Graphics: Kem White
Film Editors: John Bloom, Antonia Van Drimmelen
Assistant Editor: Martin Corbett
Production Designer: Tim Hatley
Supervising Art Director: Mark Raggett
Art Director: Hannah Moseley
Standby Art Director: Grant Armstrong
Set Decorator: Caroline Smith
Property Master: Maxie McDonald
Construction Manager: Robin Thistlethwaite
Costume Designer: Tim Hatley
Costume Supervisor: Allison Wyldeck
Chief Hair/Make-up: Lisa Westcott, Rebecca Lafford
Make-up/Hair Artists: Jayne Buxton, Helen Johnson
Hairdresser for Ms Blanchett: Eamonn Hughes
Titles Design: Randy Balsmeyer, Big Film Design
Opticals: Cineimage
Negative Cutter: Cutting Edge
Lab Colour Timers: Martin Scoones, Joe Dunton Cameras
Laboratory Liaison: John Ensby
Music by: Philip Glass
Orchestra Leader: John Bradbury
Music Conducted by: Michael Riesman
Music Supervisor: Hothouse Music
Orchestra Contractor: Isobel Griffiths
Music Production Co-ordinator: Christian Rutledge
Supervising Music Editor: Joseph S. Debeasi
Music Editors: Graham Sutton, Missy Coen
Music Engineer: Chris Dibble
Music Mixed by: Michael Riesman
Sound Supervisor (London Sound Crew): James Mather
Production Sound Mixer: Jim Greenhorn
Boom Operator: Kate Morath
Re-recording Mixers (NY Sound Crew): Lee Dichter, Martin Czembor
Re-recording Mixer (London Sound Crew): Mike Prestwood Smith
Supervising Sound Editors (NY Sound Crew): Jacob Ribikoff, Stuart Stanley
Dialogue Editor (London Sound Crew): Tim Owens
FX Editor (London Sound Crew): Joseph Park Stracey
ADR Recording Engineer (London Sound Crew): Andy Thompson
ADR Editor (London Sound Crew): Nigel Stone
Foley Artists (London Sound Crew): Andi Derrick, Peter Burgis
Foley Engineers (London Sound Crew): Edward Colyer, Nigel Heath
Foley Editor (London Sound Crew): Derek Trigg
Stunt Co-ordinator: Nrinder Dhudwar
Stunts: Peter Pedrero, Tina Maskell, Rob Hunt, John Street
Research Consultant: Ruth Halliday
Voice Coach: Joan Washington
Unit Publicist: Linda Gamble, McDonald & Rutter
Filmed on location and at: Elstree Studios
Cast
Judi Dench (Barbara Covett)
Cate Blanchett (Sheba Hart)
Bill Nighy (Richard Hart)
Andrew Simpson (Steven Connolly)
Phil Davis (Brian Bangs)
Michael Maloney (Sandy Pabblem)
Juno Temple (Polly Hart)
Max Lewis (Ben Hart)
Joanna Scanlan (Sue Hodge)
Julia McKenzie (Marjorie)
Shaun Parkes (Bill Rumer)
Tom Georgeson (Ted Mawson)
Emma Kennedy (Linda)
Syreeta Kumar (Gita)
Wendy Nottingham (Elaine Clifford)
Tameka Empson (Antonia Robinson)
Leon Skinner (Davis)
Debra Gillett (Lorraine)
Barry McCarthy (Dave)
Adrian Scarborough (Martin)
Jill Baker (Sheba’s mother)
Diana Berriman (Marcia)
Alice Bird (Saskia)
Benedict Taylor (Eddie)
Miranda Pleasence (Eddie’s wife)
Jonathan Speer (vet)
Stephen Kennedy (Mr Connolly)
Derbhle Crotty (Mrs Connolly)
Catherine Drew (newsreader)
Anne-Marie Duff (Annabel)
UK-USA 2006©
92 mins
35mm
RICHARD EYRE: WEAPONS OF UNDERSTANDING
Play for Today: Comedians + intro by Sir Jonathan Pryce + Sir Richard Eyre
Sun 1 Dec 18:40
The Ploughman’s Lunch
Fri 6 Dec 18:10; Wed 18 Dec 20:50
Play for Today: Just a Boys’ Game + Screen Two: The Insurance Man
Sat 7 Dec 17:45
Iris + intro by Professor Lucy Bolton, Queen Mary University of London
Thu 12 Dec 18:10
Philosophical Screens: Iris
Thu 12 Dec 20:00 Blue Room
Play for Today: The Imitation Game
Fri 13 Dec 18:10
Notes on a Scandal
Sat 14 Dec 18:10; Sat 28 Dec 14:45
The Dresser
Sun 15 Dec 18:00
Stage Beauty
Thu 19 Dec 20:40; Sun 29 Dec 15:10
The Cherry Orchard
Sat 21 Dec 17:40
Sunday Premiere: Tumbledown
Tue 17 Dec 18:10
Performance: Suddenly Last Summer
Sun 22 Dec 15:10
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
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