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

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.

| Original Score: A | Mar 30, 2021

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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 29, 2019

A sharp, intelligent thriller whose thrills come not from car chases or shootouts - but from the power of words; glorious, unabashedly brutal words.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 6, 2019

The strength of the writing, and therefore the directing, is that it sees the scandal as a minor point in a human experience that is naturally corrupt, and cares more about how those on the inside choose to deal with their realities.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 16, 2015

Stages the story with a tastefulness both ponderous and dishonest

| Aug 28, 2009

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

| Original Score: A- | May 15, 2009

British cinema fans shouldn't miss this one.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 23, 2009

| Original Score: A- | Oct 18, 2008

Eyre paces it with an eye for the telling detail, and Blanchett and Dench give harrowing, fearless performances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Notes on a Scandal is melodrama at its best -- a nasty, wickedly good, over-the-top story with school teachers standing in where vampires usually prowl.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 28, 2008

born from watching too many episodes of Jerry Springer, and the filmmakers decided it would be more accepted by the Academy if the characters had British accents.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 5, 2007

The characters' motives are base enough, and there's an odd combination of petty incidents having walloping consequences, but the ironies are as delicately layered and "delicious" as they could possibly be without a hint of preciosity.

| Apr 17, 2007

An absorbing character study that successfully deals with the shades of gray that are part and parcel of real, messy, everyday life.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 15, 2007

Dench's performance is the greatest pleasure in a hugely enjoyable, highly literate drama.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 28, 2007

...a thoroughly trashy piece of work...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 12, 2007

Em seus melhores momentos, é um drama relativamente eficaz. (...) Nos piores, parece uma versão de O Pentelho protagonizada por mulheres e com Judi Dench no lugar de Jim Carrey.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 8, 2007

Un brillante duelo actoral entre Judi Dench y Cate Blanchett %u2013dos de las mejores actrices de la actualidad- que es también un sutil estudio sobre la soledad y la obsesión.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 1, 2007

As much as Barbara judges, however, you may find yourself in a quandary, not judging so much as taking pleasure in her vile, brilliant perfection.

Full Review | Feb 24, 2007

The movie's driving force is Dench, whose extraordinary performance only underscores her post as one of the world's finest living actresses.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 23, 2007