Notes on a Scandal | Rotten Tomatoes

Notes on a Scandal

R

Released Dec 27, 2006

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

88%

176 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a veteran teacher at St. George's, senses a kindred spirit in Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), the school's new art teacher. The younger woman's charisma intensely draws in the older, and the two become friends. Then Barbara learns of Sheba's affair with a teenage student and becomes the keeper of the explosive secret.

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Critics Consensus

In this sharp psychological thriller, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give fierce, memorable performances as two schoolteachers locked in a battle of wits.

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John G

The critics consensus has it right on this movie. Powerful work by Blanchett and Dench. Compellingly told.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/09/24

Full Review

Jerod S

You think that Blanchett is the teacher with some major issues. But as the story goes on, it's Dench that rises as the greatest sicko. Fresh script and idea helps grip you into this one.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

KB B

This was such an engaging movie with great acting and storyline also including some very intense drama. Judi Dench was superb as usual but Cate Blanchett was exceptional. It's definitely worth the watch.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/24

Full Review

Gareth v

A brilliant and powerful drama, that is led by the fantastic performances of Dench & Blanchett. One of 2006's best movies.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Notes on a Scandal is pretty unlike anything I've seen before. It shows some of the uglier sides of people that come out of the feeling of disparity. Desperate for love, attention, to be young, to feel pretty. The immensely clouded judgment (to put it lightly) of the leads (Blanchett and Dench) is like watching an amazing storm that you see in the distance and when it eventually rolls in, you get exactly what you knew was coming. Their motivations couldn't be more different, but each are despicable in their own ways and use each other for their own means. This movie is a delectably tense and cruel affair.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not watched in time, and it's truly brilliant! Such strong writing, aligned with superb performances - especially Dame Judi. Both elements make this a tense, and dramatic film… I'd forgotten just how much so

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Richard Eyre

Director

Cate Blanchett

Sheba Hart

Judi Dench

Barbara Covett

Bill Nighy

Richard Hart

Tameka Empson

Antonia Robinson

Max Lewis

Ben

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Amy Nicholson

I.E. Weekly

Smart and brash, it's a picture Bette Davis and Joan Crawford would have killed (preferably each other) to be in.

Rated: A-

May 15, 2009

Full Review

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Blanchett has also recently appeared in The Good German and Babel, but this represents far and away her best work.

Rated: A

Feb 9, 2007

Full Review

Paul Byrnes

Sydney Morning Herald

That's the wonder of the film: it's about the vicious power of loneliness, played out through a story of two women in love. The tragedy, for both of them, is that it's not with each other.

Feb 9, 2007

Full Review

Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

A gripping twin character study... Darkly camp and spanning just 92 perfectly paced minutes, this is an intense immersion into two very ugly psyches.

Sep 2, 2023

Full Review

Murtada Elfadl

Sundays with Cate

Despite the trope of the predatory lesbian being the engine behind its plot, Notes on a Scandal is delicious fun. A most enjoyable entry into the hagsploitation genre with serious art house credentials.

Rated: A

Mar 30, 2021

Full Review

PJ Nabarro

Patrick Nabarro

Dench is compelling, and offers a transcendent portrait of a sociopath, whose bitter, fantasy-inflected interaction with the outside world is informed by a colossal solipsism.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 29, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a veteran teacher at St. George's, senses a kindred spirit in Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), the school's new art teacher. The younger woman's charisma intensely draws in the older, and the two become friends. Then Barbara learns of Sheba's affair with a teenage student and becomes the keeper of the explosive secret.

Director: Richard Eyre
Executive Producer: Redmond Morris
Screenwriter: Patrick Marber
Distributor: Fox
Production Co: DNA Films
Rating: R (Some Aberrant Sexual Content|Language)
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 27, 2006, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $17.5M

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