Albert Nobbs

"Life without dignity or decency is unbearable"

Glenn Close transforms herself into Peter O'Toole for her dream project, Albert Nobbs. It's a role that Close first played on the stage back in 1982, and she has been trying to adapt it into a film ever since. Now, thirty years later, she finally gets to put this character on the screen but her age does make her look and seem more than a bit like the elderly Mr O'Toole! This is the very definition of a pet project for the actress though, she not only stars in the film but also produced it, co-scripted it and even wrote all the songs. You can see the kernels of staginess in the way that most of the action does take place in static arenas, but there has been a conscious effort to open the story up for the benefit of the film medium (as adaptations of the theatre are almost always wont to do), and I guess the period/costume drama element of the story does lend itself to a BBC-ish feel.

Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) is an Irish woman who has lived a great deal of her life disguised as a man. The shy and reserved Mr. Nobbs works as a butler in a fairly upmarket hotel during the 1890s, and scrimps and saves every penny in the hope of one day owning a shop. A chance encounter with a painter named Hubert Page (Janet McTeer) throws Nobbs' world into disarray when the two both discover each other's feminine secret. Nobbs is particularly fascinated to hear that Mr. Page has even taken a wife, and decides to begin courting a woman of his own (Mia Wasikowska).

You can see the tragic turns in this story coming from a mile off, but it doesn't play out exactly as I thought it would. There are a few touches of humour in Close's performance as the jittery Mr. Nobbs, though it's hard to tell if this is entirely intentional. I mean, it's a good performance and it certainly has that element of radical transformation that attracts our attention, but I don't know if it's a true "tour-de-force". Nobbs doesn't really get any big cinematic moments, and his story just fizzles out. I will say though that Close is very convincing as a man, a lot more so than McTeer as Mr. Page (who just comes across as a lesbian rather than a man).

I have to admit that I don't really know if there is any historical basis for this story. If there is, the film affords a fascinating insight into a shrouded slice of history. If there's no such basis, then it at least offers some comment on class and gender roles in the late 19th century. This is a world where the rich do whatever they like, whilst the working class have much stricter values - a true sign of how the class system really worked in the UK.

I can't say this film blew me away, but it was certainly different enough to keep me interested. I felt pretty disappointed at the way the plot played out, it just didn't feel very cinematic to me. There was however one great (but odd) scene where Nobbs and Page venture out into the world dressed as women again, and they look like a pair of awkward old 19th century drag queens. I think this says more about the gender politics behind the film than any amount of tragic action or dialogue can... they just look so uncomfortable in these clothes, it isn't them.

DIRECTOR: Rodrigo Garcia
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Glenn Close, John Banville and Gabriella Prekop. Based on a short story by George Moore.
KEY ACTORS: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Pauline Collins, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Mark Williams, Brendan Gleeson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Aaron Johnson, Brenda Frickr.

RELATED TEXTS
- Celibate Lives, a collection of short stories published by George Moore in 1927, which includes the short story Albert Nobbs.
- The play The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, on which this film is based.
- Films about gender-bending: Boys Don't Cry, Glen or Glenda, Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire, Yentl and Victor Victoria.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated for Best Actress (Glenn Close), Best Supporting Actress (Janet McTeer) and Best Makeup.
AFIs - nominated for Best International Actress (Close)
Golden Globes - nominated for Best Actress - Drama (Close), Best Supporting Actress (McTeer) and Best Song (Lay Your Head Down)
Independent Spirit Awards - nominated for Best Supporting Female (McTeer)