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The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

Careless Love

Sidestepping a more extreme take on prostitution, this is a quietly impressive portrait of a young woman caught in a tragic situation.

Empire Of Silver

Its backdrop is a rich and fascinating one, but the film is let down by a screenplay and direction that fails to register on a personal level.

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Albert Nobbs (Film)

by Colin Fraser | December 19, 2011 17:13 | Edited December 19, 2011 17:14

Glenn Close delivers the performance of a lifetime in this small but endlessly intriguing gem of a film.

Glenn Close is Albert Nobbs, a turn-of-the-century English waiter. And not in a tempestuous Shakespearean girl-plays-boy kind of way. For Nobbs, this gender displacement is a matter of survival. If you're an unmarried woman who doesn't want to end up in the workhouse, there's only one solution. Man up, wear a suit, and get a job. Which is what Albert does. What's more, he has plans that involve buying a tobacconist shop and, rather more optimistically, getting married. Intrigued? One of the great delights of Rodrigo Garcia's mesmerising feature is the endlessly compelling questions that it raises as the story unfolds.

 

Glenn Close delivers the performance of a lifetime. More beast than beauty, she plays the buttoned-down Nobbs with such clarity that it's easy to forget there's an anxious woman inside his starched suit. Even when her cat is let out of the bag in a scene of alarming tenderness, Nobbs remains more man than woman. If not one of choice exactly, her behaviour has become a lifestyle. Albert's carefully calculated life begins to unravel when he falls for a scheming kitchen maid (Mia Wasikowska). Her beau, a manipulative maintenance man, leverages the relationship, and tragedy is not far behind.

 

Albert Nobbs is a remarkable story that is dignified by bold direction and a riveting central performance by Close. She perfectly captures Albert's anguish and pain, and perhaps more significantly given the paucity of dialogue afforded Nobbs, creates a noteworthy character through the most subtle mannerisms or imploring look. Less is more, perhaps a summation of Nobbs' own behaviour. It's complimented by elegant cinematography that effortlessly captures the mood of a restrictive period, but one with a hopeful future. This is not a film for fans of high action or melodrama. It's a small film for those who appreciate the rarefied drama of a quiet moment.