Kathmandu:

Loneliness, Mother Teresa once told me, is the poverty of the West. And in Notes On A Scandal we see loneliness at its naked horrible worst, and we see what it can do.

Dame Judi Dench is an elderly teacher who lives alone and writes a diary awarding herself gold stars for good days. Throughout her writing, which we hear, she is spiteful and bitter, but such is Dench’s greatness that we feel for her.

Says Kit Bowen of Notes On A Scandal and its two Oscar nominated ladies, “Based on the prize-winning novel by Zoe Heller, the movie is about obsessive relationships. When Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) joins a London secondary school as the new art teacher, fellow teacher Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), who rules her young charges with an iron fist, senses a kindred spirit — and perhaps salvation to her lonely existence. But as Barbara notes in her acerbic diary, she is not the only one drawn to the luminous Sheba who soon begins an illicit affair with one of her high school students (Andrew Simpson), and Barbara suddenly becomes the keeper of Sheba’s secret. Barbara could expose Sheba to both her husband (Bill Nighy) and the world, but instead Barbara manipulates it for her own nefarious and selfish reasons.

Dench and Blanchett give tour-de-force performances yet again. Played like a wounded butterfly, Sheba is too weak to either stave off a dalliance with the young gent — played with convincing lustfulness by newcomer Simpson — or tell the stifling Barbara to bugger off, despite the consequences. Then there’s Dench as Barbara, representing the opposite end of the spectrum as Notes’ driving force. But when Barbara turns madly obsessive, with her soft underbelly eventually exposed, she crumbles with the best of them. And the best part of Notes is watching these two brilliant actress go toe-to-toe for the first time on film.”

They say that comedy can be outright laughter or a long lasting smile. And you smile through The Holiday which is both a rom-com (romantic comedy) as well as a chick-flick. But it’s fun.

Says a Hollywood critic, “The Holiday probably falls under the ‘guilty pleasure’ category. Its not a classic romantic comedy by any standards, but darn it, it still makes you smile more often than you want to admit. The story centers on two women — Iris (Kate Winslet), a British newspaper columnist hopelessly in love with a man about to marry someone else, and Amanda (Cameron Diaz), a highly successful LA career woman who just broke up with her latest cheating boyfriend. Being at the right place at the right time, these two girls meet online at a home exchange website, and impulsively switch homes for a holiday. Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing either wants or expects: A new romance. Amanda is charmed by Iris’ handsome brother Graham (Jude Law) and Iris, with inspiration provided by legendary screenwriter Arthur (Eli Wallach), mends her heart when she meets film composer Miles (Jack Black). Oh, just go ahead and take a big gooey bite. It’s good for the soul.

“What does make The Holiday work, is writer/director Nancy Meyers, who skillfully crafts individual moments of refreshing comedy as well as heartening scenes of blossoming romance. The Holiday has one of those glossy, rosy glows whose only aim is to make you feel good. True, the film will mostly speak volumes to the women in the audience but oh well it’s fluff is a nice reprieve.”