Notes on a Scandal – 2006 | 92 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Notes on a Scandal is a story of loneliness, loyalty, envy and love, based on the Zoe Heller novel “What Was She Thinking?” Richard Eyre’s screen adaptation is a psychological drama of two women caught up in betrayal narrated throughout by Cate Blanchett’s nemesis and confidante – the malevolent Judi Dench.

Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a domineering and solitary history teacher approaching retirement rules her classroom at the decaying state-run St. George’s secondary school in London with an iron fist. 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). Despite looking down her nose at Sheba and scorning her pseudo-bohemian home life, Barbara believes she may be the kindred spirit and loyal friend she has always been seeking.

But when she discovers that Sheba is having an illicit affair with one of her young pupils, 15-year-old Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson), Barbara seizes on the threat of exposure as a means of manipulation and for the two teachers to bond in their shared secret. Barbara chronicles the twists and turns of her scheming in an acerbic diary. Their budding relationship takes an ominous turn when Sheba refuses to forgo a school play to comfort Barbara, and to make matters worse she also rekindles her relationship with underage Steven. Barbara threatens to expose Sheba’s terrible secret to her husband (Bill Nighy), but instead uses a fellow teacher (Phil Davis) to deliver the killer blow. But 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.