Andrew Simpson is also quite good as Sheba’s youthful object d’amour. Sheba is given a complex arc as she tries to balance her worlds, all the while unaware of Barbara’s plotting. Cate Blanchett gives a solid performance as the young wife who falls for the charms of handsome, vivacious Steven. It’s a juicy role and an Oscar-worthy performance by the grand dame but she is up against some pretty big guns with Helen Mirren (“The Queen”), Kate Winslet (“Little Children”) and Penelope Cruz (“Volver”). Dench gives her character real dimension and you, almost, feel bad for her. Judi Dench, as Barbara, is both pathetic and scary as she puts in motion her scheme to ruin Sheba’s life and drive the younger woman to her for solace and support. Then, the monster is awakened to catastrophic results. Her true colors come to the surface when Sheba refuses to stay with her after Barbara’s beloved cat dies. Barbara uses her knowledge of her young friend’s affair to insinuate herself with Sheba, secretly hatching plans to make her friend give up her teen amour and drive a wedge into her marriage. What unfolds is a kind monster tale as we watch her clinical, calculated intrusion into Sheba’s life. Based on the Zoe Heller novel, What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal, adapted by Patrick Marber, Eyrw introduces us to the stern ministrations of Barbara. This is solid, straightforward filmmaking by helmer Richard Eyre who continues his femme-based stories, like “Iris” and “Stage Beauty” (which has its ultra feminine transvestite), with an excellent pair of character studies by Dench and Blanchett.
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