by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
A Rated R 92 min.
This film could be a docudrama based on the true story of a beautiful Florida teacher who had an affair with her fifteen year old student. However, the story is set in the UK. It involves two teachers, Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) and Sheba Hart ( Cate Blanchett) who develop a strange friendship. When Sheba confesses to Barbara that she is having an affair with her star fifteen year old student, Barbara uses this knowledge as emotional blackmail over Sheba.
The twisted friendship is based on Barbara’s obsession with Sheba as a possible lesbian lover, which greatly complicates their interaction. Of course, Sheba is naive about the sexual implications of her friendship with Barbara. It’s juicy material for the two consummate actresses to showcase their respective acting skill. In the context of their characters complex relationship, the two stage divas shine with duel Oscar worthy performances. Judy Dench should receive another Oscar nomination for her deeply nuanced performance as Barbara.
In this emotionally charged atmosphere between the two unstable women, one would think that Sheba is the crazy one, having clandestine trysts with this young boy in the railway yard like some lowlife street walker. But Barbara is the twisted one with her intellectual snobbery and her cruel assessment of her colleagues, including Sheba. Barbara wants to possess Sheba as her lover and confidant. By assuring Sheba she will not blow the whistle on her incredibly stupid indiscretion, she has wormed her way into Sheba’s life, making her dependent on their friendship.
Sheba has no clue that Barbara is manipulating her with her bombshell knowledge of Sheba’s illegal affair. The story delves deeply into Sheba and Barbara’s co-dependent relationship. Barbara’s previous companion left her because of her controlling and possessive personality. Now Barbara is bitter and lonely. She advises Sheba to end the affair immediately. But, Sheba continues the affair. Viewers know this volatile relationship is set to explode in Sheba’s face any minute. So Barbara uses it to keep Sheba close to her.
In an emotionally charged performance Bill Nighy portrays Sheba’s older husband, whom she married for security. One of their children has Down Syndrome, and he lavishes his attention on the boy and the other child. Sheba feels neglected. Since she is beautiful, she is used to continuous attention from everyone in her life. She finds that attention with the young boy, who could care less about her. For him it’s all about sex.
Blanchett and Dench are riveting together portraying this sick relationship. Their interaction is so complex and entangled, viewers know it’s headed for trouble. Barbara’s journal contains her most intimate thoughts about Sheba, who eventually finds Barbara’s writings and goes ballistic. “You don’t even like me, and yet you want me to be your lover,” she screams. Ah yes, it’s the inexplicable female consciousness gone terribly wrong when Sheba finds out the truth.
As the story unfolds, viewers see Dench’s desperate need for human contact. In her case, this need has turned her cold and psychotic. She wants more than a give and take friendship with Sheba. She wants to control her life and lord over her with her knowledge of her illicit relationship with the boy.
Sheba’s secret affair is a neutron bomb ready to explode. She has everything she could ask for at home–a loving family. But for her, a spoiled beautiful woman, it is never enough. She wants men and boys to fawn over her like she is a goddess. Women like this are never satisfied. Their hunger for attention goes beyond the boundaries of consensus reality. She should realize that the boy will get tired of her, and dump her any minute. Yet, like a junkie she can’t stop his injection of ultimate adoration. In other words, she wants it all to remind her of her high priestess status as a desirable woman sucking up every ounce of manhood from this symbol of her queen bee status.
Yes, Sheba and Barbara are two halves of the same sickness, seething in a caldron of emotional turpitude. The film is an engrossing study of the female neurosis and bad craziness.
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