When Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) joins St. George's as the new art teacher, Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) senses a kindred spirit. But Barbara is not the only one drawn to her. Sheba begins an illicit affair and Barbara becomes the keeper of her secret. "Notes on a Scandal" is a story of loneliness, loyalty, envy and love. — More here

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The scandal is the misogynist tone taken toward this film's female characters.
By Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
This may run counter of the auteur theory, but "Notes on a Scandal" feels much more like a film by writer Patrick Marber than by director Richard Eyre. Eyre does a fine job overseeing performances by a terrific cast that rings true until female hysteria takes over the final act. But in tone and theme, the film has all the hallmarks of playwright-screenwriter Marber's stark, uncompromising misanthropy, if not misogyny...
On the plus side, the film nicely surveys the scruffy, genteel sections of contemporary London thanks to excellent design by Tim Hatley and cinematography by Chris Menges.

A deviously entertaining account of one woman's indiscretions
JUSTIN CHANG
Variety
A malevolent Judi Dench has Cate Blanchett right where she wants her in Richard Eyre's 'Notes on a Scandal.'
But "Notes on a Scandal" is first and foremost an actors' showcase, and Dench rises ferociously to the occasion with her juiciest, most substantial performance since "Iris" and arguably "Mrs. Brown." Using her frumpy, diminutive stature as a weapon, Dench's Barbara invites the viewer (like Sheba) to pity her loneliness, so it registers as a genuine shock when she exposes the borderline-psychotic levels of neediness underneath.

Even if you know the novel, you'll hang on every twist and turn.
David Ansen
Newsweek
"Notes on a Scandal" is a wicked delight. Adapted by playwright Patrick Marber from Zoe Heller's acclaimed novel, it's at once a comedy of cluelessness and class, a melodrama of two women in the grips of wildly inappropriate obsessions, and a "Fatal Attraction"-style thriller. It's not easy to pull off the tale's delicate mix of tones, but Richard ("Iris") Eyre's zesty direction gets it just right. (Philip Glass's throbbing score, however, gets it wrong.)

This corn is not green; it is rotten
TIME Magazine
Notes on a Scandal is melodrama trying to pass itself off as a slice of realistic life. But director Richard Eyre and screenwriter Patrick Marber keep forcing us past disbelief and into the perverse pleasures of nastiness. If nothing else, their film is the perfect antidote to all those warm, forgiving schoolboy dramas we've endured through the years. This corn is not green; it is rotten down to the last kernel.

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