Notes On A Scandal

As a mini birthday treat we have been to the cinema this afternoon at the Stephen Joseph Theatre to see 'Notes On A Scandal'.

Notes On A Scandal

Cast
Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson, Phil Davis, Michael Maloney, Juno Temple, Max Lewis, Joanna Scanlan, Julia McKenzie

Director
Richard Eyre

Producer
Scott Rudin, Robert Fox

Writer
Patrick Marber, Zoe Heller

Duration
01:38:00

Official Site
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/NOAS/

Release
Friday February 2 2007

Genre
Drama

Distributor
20th Century Fox

"NOTES ON A SCANDAL" SYNOPSIS
Two women, caught up in a drama of need and betrayal, are at the heart of the psychological thriller "Notes on a Scandal." The twists and turns of the story are noted in the acerbic diary of Barbara Covett, a domineering and solitary teacher who rules with an iron fist over her classroom at a decaying state-run secondary school in London. Save for her cat, Portia, Barbara lives alone, without friends or confidantes--but her world changes when she meets the school's new art teacher, Sheba Hart. Sheba appears to be the kindred spirit and loyal friend Barbara has always been seeking. But, when she discovers that Sheba is having an incendiary affair with one of her young students, their budding relationship takes an ominous turn. Now, as Barbara threatens to expose Sheba's terrible secret to both her husband and the world, Barbara's own secrets and dark obsessions come tumbling to the fore, exposing the deceptions at the core of each of the women's lives.

This was my kind of film, really a 'psychological' drama. Brilliant writing and acting illuminating certain psychological types and relationship styles which one observes daily if in less dramatic contexts. I want to know about the book on which it is based and its author. I am told that the film does not end in the same way as the book. In the film Sheba returns to husband and family, Barbara moves on to her next victim and a new diary book.

'Notes on a Scandal' by Zoe Heller
April 2004
Everyone seems to be talking about this book in the UK at the moment, which to my peverse book-choosing mind is normally a guarantee that I won't pick it up until the fuss has died down (I only read White Teeth a couple of years ago; I still haven't got round to Brick Lane). But I've made an exception this time, and I'm glad I did.

Heller's second novel is a cleverly told tale of forty-something pottery teacher Sheba Hart who has an affair with one of her pupils and finds herself the centre of a disapproving media furore. The genius of the book is its narrative device. The story is told by Sheba's colleague, history teacher Barbara Covett: approaching retirement age, bored by most of her other colleagues, desperately lonely, and also, we discover, prone to forming intense friendships with other women, and then falling out with them - or somehow making them fall out with her.

Barbara takes on the task of setting the media's warped record straight, of telling the story of Sheba's affair with fifteen-year-old Steven Connolly as it really is. She doesn't hold back, however, when she thinks Sheba has acted wildly, or foolishly, or reprehensibly. The sense of something sinister lurks behind Barbara's narrative throughout. Having made us side with Barbara initially - against the lowering of standards and general rudeness of the modern education system (and indeed, modern living in general), Heller's art is to then subtly reverse our loyalties, so that by the end we too see the narrator through the eyes of the people around her who find her somewhat disturbing.

Notes on a Scandal was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and has just been longlisted for the Orange Prize here in the UK. It's a brilliant read (I read it in two days flat, which is good going for me). And it's the kind of book that might just become the next Lucky Bones: initially recommended by a friend, and then bought or borrowed and passed on or recommended...ad infinitum.


Biography

Zoe Heller was born in London in 1965 and educated at Oxford University and Columbia University, New York. She is a journalist who, after writing book reviews for various newspapers, became a feature writer for The Independent. She wrote a weekly confessional column for the Sunday Times for four years, but now writes for the Daily Telegraph and earned the title 'Columnist of the Year' in 2002.

She is the author of two novels: Everything You Know (2000), a dark comedy about misanthropic writer Willy Miller, and Notes on a Scandal (2003) which tells the story of an affair between a high school teacher and her student through the eyes of the teacher's supposed friend, Barbara Covett. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for fiction, and was recently released as a feature film, starring Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench.

Zoe Heller lives in New York.