Juicy Scandal

Imagine a producer pitching this high-concept project to a prospective studio to get the finance for his movie. It’s Fatal Attraction meets Lolita with a touch of The Talented Mr Ripley , but we switch some of the genders and replace the homo with a lesbian.

It’s quite refreshing to see the British version of this game, and of course there are no murders -“ the English language is more than capable of conveying vitriol and venom without violence. And what juicy high-camp fun Notes On A Scandal turns out to be!

Using Zo?eller’s novel as a starting point, scriptwriter Patrick Marber has given Judi Dench more withering one-liners than Meryl Streep had in The Devil Wears Prada , but here the effect is subtler and much more darkly comic.

It’s the sort of role 72-year-old Dench could play in her sleep but, with six Oscar nominations under her belt and one win for Shakespeare In Love , it’s unlikely she’ll beat Helen Mirren in The Queen . Co-star Cate Blanchett has a better chance (in the supporting actress category) in a refreshing rebound from her minimal role in Babel and miscasting as an East German hooker in the forthcoming The Good German .

The two women are London high school teachers, Dench as a closeted lesbian, Barbara, obsessed with Blanchett as a silly, snobbish pseudo-Bohemian, Sheba, married to the execrable Bill Nighy (another of his dim-witted doddery performances), with two demanding teenage children.

One night during a school play, Barbara catches Sheba in her classroom giving a 15-year-old Year 10 student, Steven, a blowjob. Rather than report her, Barbara becomes Sheba’s confidante -“ He dedicated his [soccer] goal to me, Sheba giddily confesses.

Soon Sheba finds herself trapped between two smart manipulators. Steven, played by cute teen actor Andrew Simpson, isn’t evil -“ I’m not very bright but I’m not a dickhead, he reassures Sheba.

In fact he’s the smartest of the trio with the most realistic grasp of the situation, but this doesn’t help him when the scandal gets out due to some rather improbable carelessness on Barbara’s part.

Melodramatic hysteria ensues, giving full rein to Britain’s despicable tabloid press and its even more despicable class snobbery -“ Sheba despises Barbara because of the address of her apartment.

Director Richard Eyre has done solid work in the past -“ he directed Dench’s Oscar-nominated performance in Iris (2001) and his Stage Beauty (2005) was one of the best gay-themed movies of recent years.

He wraps up Notes For A Scandal in a brisk 91 minutes, efficiently delivering one of the most richly enjoyable experiences of the 2007 awards season.