Notes on a Scandal

Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) teaches history at a comprehensive school in London. Having never married and nearing retirement, she is unpopular with the students and her fellow teachers, whom she has contempt for. Barbara has been teaching at the school for 30 years and entertains no suggestions on making any changes to her curriculum as she argues that the results are "below the national average", but above the level of catastrophe. A lonely old spinster, Barbara's only "intimate relationship" is with herself by means of a diary. Barbara's diaries are meticulously organized and managed, going back decades of her life, and being a chronicle of the most important events of her life. Barbara has a dim view of her students and believes that she is only training the future plumbers and shop assistants of the country. She remembers that the school would confiscate the cigarettes and pornographic magazines, but now the students have moved on it knives and cocaine. When a new, younger teacher Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) starts at the school, Barbara feels drawn to her and believes that she "may be the one." In Barbara, this friendship quickly turns into infatuation and obsession. Sheba is married to the much older Richard and is just re-entering the work force after devoting herself to her special needs son. Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with a student, Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson). When Barbara confronts her, Sheba recounts all the details of her involvement with the boy but asks Barbara not to tell the school administration until after Christmas, as she wants to be with her family. Barbara claims she has no intention of reporting her providing Sheba ends the relationship immediately, but Barbara secretly plans to use the affair as a means of manipulating Sheba. Over the Christmas break, Barbara visits her sister, who asks her about another young teacher Barbara befriended. Barbara stiffly says that the young teacher moved away. Barbara's sister asks if she has any other female "friends," strongly implying Barbara is a lesbian. Barbara insists she has no idea what her sister is talking about. Sheba tells Steven that the affair is over yet finds herself unable to stop seeing him. Sheba does not end the affair with Steven, causing Barbara to taunt her emotionally and draw her down, leading her to end the affair with Steven. In months passing, Barbara's grasp on Sheba slowly starts to take hold, with Barbara manipulating and emotionally blackmailing her, causing her attentions to be divided between her family and Barbara. When Barbara's cat dies and Sheba's loyalties are easily divided, Sheba's husband Richard (Bill Nighy) shouts in anger that her friend is being an evident pain and that his wife is being twisted by Barbara. When Sheba refuses to give in to Barbara's increasing demands on her time and attention, Barbara reveals the secret to a male teacher who has told her that he is attracted to Sheba. The teacher informs the student's parents and the school. After the affair becomes public, the headmaster accuses Barbara of knowing about the affair and not notifying the authorities. He also learns that a former teacher at the school, the young woman Barbara mentioned at Christmas, had taken out a restraining order against Barbara for stalking her and her fiance. Mrs. Connolly then comes to Sheba's home and hits Sheba. Afterwards, Sheba and Richard bitterly argue. In Barbara's voiceover, she reveals she is glad that they are arguing, knowing that Sheba will come to her for comfort, which had been Barbara's plan to start with. The next day, the media, as well as the school administration, are alerted, and Sheba's affair and her life are turned upside down by the collapse of her marriage, the destroyed relationship with her children and the loss of her job. Barbara is fired from the school after denying to the headmaster that she knew of the relationship. He confronts her with a copy of a restraining order taken out against Barbara by another fellow teacher whom she had previously befriended. Sheba's husband asks her to move out of their home, so she moves into Barbara's house, unaware that Barbara is the reason she was found out and believing the affair became known because Steven confessed it to his mother. Sheba soon finds Barbara's diary and learns that it was Barbara who leaked the story of the affair, on account of the rather sexual attraction Barbara seems to have for her. When Barbara returns from a shopping round, she is confronted by a furious Sheba, who strikes her in anger. Barbara says she has done her a favor by getting her out of a hopeless marriage. The two of them continue to shout and fight with one another, and Sheba claims that Barbara never really liked her, but in fact manipulated her for her own personal needs. Sheba runs outside with Barbara's journal, to streams of reporters and photographers. She shouts at them in a deluded fashion but becomes hemmed in by a crush of reporters and photographers, at which point Barbara rescues her. Sheba's emotions spent, she quietly tells Barbara that she had initiated the friendship because she had liked her (Barbara) and they could have been friends. Barbara says she needs more than a friend. Sheba leaves Barbara, placing the journal on the table as a mute reminder that she had kept its contents secret, and returns to her husband. Sheba returns to her family home. Richard answers the door. The two face one another silently for several moments, and then Richard allows her to enter. Sheba is sentenced to 10 months. However, it is strongly implied she is reconciled with her family. The last scene is Barbara meeting another younger woman who is reading a newspaper reporting the Sheba Hart affair. Barbara says she used to know Sheba, but then downplays the relationship by acting as if they hardly knew each other. Barbara quickly introduces herself, and the other woman introduces herself as Annabel (Anne-Marie Duff). The pair continue to talk. Barbara mentions attending a classical concert and invites Annabel to join her.