What I loved most: Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett

Going to keep this really short as words really can't describe this film. Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett put up an impressive showing in this scandalously impressive film. Thrilling from start till the end, it leaves your heart thumping and gripping at your seat. Dench is always great, even more so in this film. Blanchett hardly disappoints and delivers her character well with great skill. The story and directing was great as well. You know a good one when you see one. So watch this.

What I loved most: intoxicatingly wicked!

What I really hated: dench's mumsy hairdo! ouch.

a movie that moves predictably before settling down disturbingly with the arrival of the stunning Mrs. Hart (Blanchett). It is a one way street for lonely Barbara as she is swept into an obsessive infatuation that leads to blackmail, and a disintegration and breakup of a family unit who find themselves plunged deep into shock, humilation, and utter helplessness. All that is happy, familiar and loving are reflected in a delicious sunday lunch; as stark reality hides outside, and in the back garden where Hart's dirty secret sits, waiting invitingly for the next encounter. Wicked!

What I loved most: Striking Dench

While then, society pictures out teaching as a vocation, the Movie shows how vulnerable teachers are nowadays. It exposes out also resemblance story/ies behind those chronicled teacher-student lewd and lascivious battery cases in early 2005. Viewers will see more of mature content- explicit talk to a teacher and dilemma of middle-aged motherhood (to both young or special children). Husband's (Bill Nighy) heartfelt line is also noteworthy. Blanchett and Dench played great roles executing good performances. Movie will leave you thinking gross consequences of temptations being nurtured, if not resisted on the earliest plot. Excuse of loving a minor is never accepted, as far as our law is concerned. And being quiet with self interest can enable a crime.

What I loved most: Judi Dench flexes her acting muscles, and beats every actor that I've seen in action this year.

This is a terribly scandalous movie. The scandal actually starts off with art teacher Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) getting involved with a sexual relationship with her student, Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson). However, the bigger scandal is actually the schemes of Barbara Covett (Judi Dench). She notes them down in her little diary, and pastes golden stars in it as the schemes bear fruit. After another failed "friendship", she begins to plot to become Sheba's friend. She helps her keep the secret of her scandal from her family and the school, and becomes the only person left to give her support when the cat was let out of the bag. We all love a scandal or two, but this one will have you chewing your nails off in the scene where Sheba discovers Barbara's diary. The intensity is so mind-blowing, it gave me a headache! It was much more thrilling than your average Hollywood action sequence. Watching Cate Blanchett in this is much more rewarding than that in Babel, where her portrayal throughout the movie was more or less that of a wounded woman facing death. In this, she experiences love with a minor, destructive friendship with a fellow colleague, nostalgia of her past life, frustration of bringing up a kid with Down's Syndrome and pain of betraying her husband. If you thought Judi Dench's presence in Casino Royale was minimal but effective, be prepared to be arrested by her acting in this one. It's as if she leads a double life - a firm, experienced school teacher and that of a desperate, obsessive lesbian woman who's afraid of dying alone. She's so threatening I was trembling in my pants when she demanded that Sheba accompany her to her cat's death or she'd dish out some revenge. Overall the movie's exploration of some very human themes push it above your average Hollywood flick. Lonelines, and the desperation that comes along with it, is something we can all relate to.