Notes on a Scandal

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If you don't already know the plot, let me first quickly summarize with this: the story is about two secondary school teachers, one of whom has a relationship with a student at the school. But it is more than that. The author of the original novel, Zoë Heller, speaks of reacting against the "oprahfication of [female] friendship," and wanting to show a different side to women. While saying that it is a portrayal of feminine vices may go too far, I think the story does represent the sort of sins that women are prone to committing.

In one of the extras, Cate Blanchette says that "loneliness can make people incredibly desperate" and explains her character's behavior by saying that she is someone "waiting to be discovered." "I've always seen the film as a portrait of loneliness." Yes loneliness, but how is this loneliness taken care of? Not in a morally acceptable way, for either woman. Here we witness what happens when the natural inclination towards sociability is not governed by reason, and the result of friendship being emptied of true philia.

Judi Dench's character, Barbara Covett, is nasty in her description of others. She is the narrator in the movie, writing entries into her diary. She seems to be a proud woman, disdaining the students and her colleagues, not wholly without reason. Does she really belong at St. George's? Or is she too good for the school? She does seem to be well-read and conversant in "intelligent" matters.

Perhaps there is a pride that has been chastened: "When I was young I had such vision of myself; I dreamt I'd be someone to be reckoned with, in the world. But one learns one's scale."

What is Barbara's class/socio-economic background? It is not clear, though I would guess somewhere in the middle. She seems to resent Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchette's character) for being "privileged." It is said that the class system is disappearing in Great Britain... but what do people aspire to and expect? Theodore Dalrymple, for example, came from a humble background, but he recounts how his father aspired to (and impressed upon his children) that to be civilized required adhering to certain standards of behavior and decorum. The old British way. Is this Barbara's background as well?

Did she lose her youthful idealism? Is she simply reacting against the decline of standards and the education system? At first one thinks that perhaps her judgment of others may be unduly harsh, but partially justified. But then, after meeting Sheba Hart, she is invited to her home for lunch, and she describes Sheba's family, especially her son with Down's syndrome, in very harsh words.

But this is a woman who does not have any real friends in her life, who lives alone (except for her cat). Should we have sympathy with her because she is so alone? While we are aware that her character is ugly, we do not learn why or how she turned out this way.

It is clear that Barbara is looking for a soulmate, but she mistakes Sheba for one. She thinks they "share the ablity to see through the cotidian awfulness of things" and "in a different, better age we would be ladies of leisure... we would be companions." There is a hint that the desire for companionship is so strong that it tends towards lesbianism. (At the climax of the film Sheba practically accuses her of this.)

It also becomes apparent that she is not trustworthy as a narrator of events, and that her interpretation of reality is colored by her desires for friendship. (We find out later that she is obsessive, even engaging in stalker behavior.) It is not reliable, and ultimately self-serving and self-centered. Barbara thinks she is welcome in Sheba's home, only because she is fixated on Sheba; but Sheba's family doesn't actually like her much (the daughter finds her creepy)--Barbara is oblivious to this.After she "betrays" Sheba and makes her misdeeds known to another colleague at the school (through suggestion and mere "gossip") in order to get revenge (because Sheba had not been there in her time of need), and Sheba turns to her for support, she sees herself as being the best friend, confidante, and wise guide possible for Sheba.

Sheba does claim that she wanted to make friends with Barbara. But, she could not be there to console her when her cat dies because of her duties to family. (She had to attend a play in which her son was performing.) And this is perceived by Barabara to be rejection, a failure to reciprocate for all that she has done for her (especially concealing the illicit relationship with the student).

Sheba Hart is said to be of the "privileged class" by Barbara. Is she as spoiled as Barbara suggests? She did get involved with a married man who abandoned his family for her. She confides to Barbara that "Marriage and kids... it's wonderful-- but it doesn't give you meaning, it gives you an imperative." She then recounts how her father told her to "mind the gap"while they waited for the underground, and from this she draws the lesson that there is "a distance between life as you dream it and life as it is."

Cate Blanchette thinks that the movie doesn't answer the question why did Sheba has a
relationship with the student but I wonder if there is enough info given in the movie (or in the novel) for the viewer/reader to make a guess. It is revealed that Sheba's husband was her teacher (college prof). Her relationship with her mother is not good--was she reacting against her father's failure to be a father who protected her from her mother by looking for an older father figure? Despite her father's academic accomplishments, did he give her the attention at home that she needed? Or provide the necessary counter to her mother's negativity? (Her mother praises her husband for being intelligent, telling others that her daughter lacks this quality.)

Or is there an unresolved high school/adolescent issue as well? She wants to be wanted, and is flattered by the attention of the student. She also is flattered by his attention; exhilirated that someone wants to pursue her. Her husband has gotten old and is probably not as vigorous as before. She is also "excited to find someone who wanted to learn" art, perhaps her greatest passion in life. But there is also a mother complex that goes beyond looking for a lover--after he tells her of his bad family life, her mother complex kicks in as she finds him vulnerable and seeks to comfort him. Barbara reprimands her for having a relationship with the student: "The boy is 15." And the expected retort from Sheba comes immediately: "But he is quite mature for his age."

And yet Sheba knows that what she has done is wrong, not only legally, but as a means to an end--the boy cannot really provide the fulfillment she is looking for.

Later when Sheba is at Barbara's home, after leaving her home at her husband's request, she goes back to her comfort zone, putting on makeup and dressing as a 80s punk. Returning to her adolescent rebelliousness? This is a coping mechanism, but also symbolic of alienation? Seeing herself as an outsider, perhaps, as if she had some control over it, rather than being exiled from hime and ostracized and villified by society (and the tabloids) for what she has done

It does turn out that the boy is a liar and a user; he didn't want anything serious, just "fun" -- instead of being the son with a sick mother and abusive father, he is pampered, even though of a working class background, with parents who are probably too nice and permissive, overlook his faults (and responsibility). Sheba finds out the truth when she pays a visit to his house, and the boy tells her that he can't help solve her problems. (And suggesting again that she doesn't know how to cope with her family situation and the lack of "meaning" in her life.) The boy is a predator, recognizing someone vulnerable, weak, and in need of attention, and homing in on her. At the end of the movie one is left thinking that Barbara, like the teenage boy, is a predator as well, but in a different way. (And even the boy isn't wholly without conscience, it would seem, confronting Barbara at her home after the scandal breaks.) She revises her story and her description of Sheba to another woman, claiming that Sheba was "chilly" and that she didn't know her well. Are her complaints about the education system to be taken seriously then? Or is she masking her own weakness as a teacher?

(Does the novel have the same ending?)

Again, what is a mystery (to me at least) is not Sheba's motivations but Barbara--how she ended up the way she was, her history and past actions, and so on. Some might claim that she suffers from some sort of mental illness, but I think she is someone who is cognizant of her actions and responsible. Some may be unable to relate to her reasoning, but this is the power of sin to distort one's judgment and reasoning.

One extra available on the DVD is of Cate Blanchette and Bill Nighy interviewing each other. I can see why someone is attracted to her--she does have the appearance of maturity, at least in the way she handles herself. (Though perhaps not with her thinking.) She is caught looking at her fingernails while talking to Bill Nighy. Is she relaxed in front of the camera? Not quite, but she is comfortable doing this during the interview. There is no need to present a front of fake image of herself.

Actors... Bill Nighy states, "These are decent people actually, and this is what happened to them." He goes on to claim that what is depicted in the movie is worse than when "you have a terrible woman doing a terrible thing." Cate Blanchette agrees, the movie is about "good people [who] do bad things." It is an "irreparable situation; no neat bow can be tied out of it, just a mess of
strings that have become untangled." She goes as far as to say something along the lines of Sheba being the victim of circumstances.

This is the modern "tragedy" apparently, where no fault or blame can be assigned to the characters. Everyone is basically good, but they are just misunderstood or neglected and their bad behavior has a reason which ultimately lets them off the hook, or close to it, even if their behavior has bad consequences for the people around them.

Fortunately, we do not need to rely upon the actors' understanding of their characters (and of morality) in order to grasp the message of the film. Even though they are participants in the making of the film, they may not be able to explain the story or the intentions of the characters. (In so far as they are flawed people in real life, it is not difficult to behave as if one were the character. Besides, it is impossible to capture the inner life of the characters on film, and this can only be inferred from their words and actions.)

While Sheba Hart may be lost and claim to not have self-understanding, those of us who struggle with sin so as to love, but in conformity with the Eternal Law, can have some insight to why she does what she does. The movie is another depiction of fallen human beings--not very inspiring, though at the end of the movie there is hope that the difficulties between Sheba and her husband have been resolved, and that he is there to support her while she spends time in a prison. It captures sin realistically, and this should be acknowledged. But so what? What would Augustine say about our desire to watch flawed people behave badly and suffer the consequences? It is a good film if the definition of a film is that it is "realistic" and "captures life." But is this the purpose of film? Or is it a form of story-telling, and therefore guided by the ends and rules of story-telling?

I remember having a discussion with (Brother) Michael about tragedy. Is there such a thing as Christian tragedy? And what did Shakespeare write? Is the fatal flaw of Greek tragedy the same as sin? (If the flaw is rooted in hubris, it would seem that the answer is yes, but are there other flaws that are not sins? Let us not overstate the difference between Aristotle and a Christian like St. Augustine--while there may be no definition of sin that includes a reference to God in Aristotle, sin as an action that is counter to right reason is present. And Aristotle does have a notion of will, even if it is not as fully developed as it is in Aquinas.) It seems that from a Christian standpoint, even if someone sins and suffers the consequences, there is a possibility of ultimate redemption and salvation. The only tragic end occurs when someone rejects God knowingly and willingly at death and merits eternal punishment. If that is the case, what do Christians look for in tragedy? Can tragedy satisfy us, if we are left in doubt about the character's ultimate fate?

Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
Tragedy

Also, while it may have only been the intention of the filmmakers (and of the author as well) to be realistic and to show the present conditions at a British school, is the movie a record of decaying Britain and for the movie at least, the problems of multiculturalism and the loss of tradition. What would Theodore Dalrymple and Peter Hitchens say about the book and movie?

Throughout history it would seem "normal" for older men to marry teenage girls. However, if an older women were to marry a younger man, it would seem that the age difference would not be that great. Younger women have health and fertility to their advantage. But what are older women looking for from teenage boys? (While the actions of those women teachers who have bipolar disorder are more easily understandable, what of those who claim to be in love with their students? Can they truly believe that boys can provide the emotional support, maturity, and the male strength that a normal woman wants? Is there something else that is subverting their judgment on this point?)

the novel; wiki for the novel, movie