Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Notes on a Scandal (2006) - Great performances in Eyre's layered drama-thriller

11/10/2021

Notes on a Scandal (2006) - Great performances in Eyre's layered drama-thriller

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Drama-Thriller of the Year + Best Erotic Movie of the Year + Best London Movie of the Year + Best UK Movie of the Year

Gold and shadow-filled red is used on the stars' faces of this poster for Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal

A younger woman, Sheba, begins teaching at an ordinary London school, where she attracts a clingy friend in the aging spinster Barbara.

Notes on a Scandal is written by Patrick Marber (Asylum (2005)), adapting the same-titled 2003 novel by Zoë Heller (The Believers (2008)), and directed by great English filmmaker Richard Eyre (The Ploughman's Lunch (1983)).

Judi Dench (Four in the Morning (1965)) is formidable as the dried-up, scheming, selfish older woman, and Cate Blanchett (The Aviator (2004)) is just as perfect as the younger Sheba, who lets her life take a free-fall. Their acting in the same dramatic minefield issued by Sheba's affair with an underage student is the film's great attraction. Bill Nighy (Guest House Paradiso (1999)) is also outstanding as Sheba's cuckolded husband, and Eyre gets seductive scenes out of the young Andrew Simpson (Road Games (2015)).

Notes on a Scandal is an intriguing, a bit literary but nevertheless excellent film about the gossipy and self-serving in us all.

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 49.8 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.32 times its cost)

[Notes on a Scandal was released 25 December (USA) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 2005 in England, including in London. The film opened #66 to a 6k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #13 and in 682 theaters (different weeks), grossing 17.5 mil. $ (35.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 11.5 mil. $ (23.1 %) and Australia with 4.9 mil. $ (9.8 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actress (Dench) to Helen Mirren in The Queen, Supporting Actress (Blanchett) to Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, Adapted Screenplay to William Monahan for The Departed, and Score (Philip Glass (Elena (2011)) to Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel. It was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs, won 2/4 British Independent Film awards, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, 3 Golden Globes and won a National Board of Review award, among many other honors. Eyre returned with The Other Man (2008). Dench returned in Quantum of Solace (2008); and Blanchett in Hot Fuzz (2007) for an uncredited cameo and as a starring actor in I'm Not There (2007). Notes on a Scandal is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/10/2021

Notes on a Scandal (2006) - Great performances in Eyre's layered drama-thriller

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