The Frame

Any time you have actresses like Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench together in a movie, expect incredible acting and plenty of sparks, if nothing else. Blanchett is a thirty-something art teacher who becomes involved with one of her fifteen-year-old students. When Dench discovers the affair, she uses her knowledge to gain emotional control over Blanchett, trying to filfill her own illicit desire for the younger teacher. In less competent hands the story could have been merely prurient, but it isn’t…it’s an electrifying exploration of obsession. Not to mention a master course in the art of acting, as both actresses manage to make their characters simultaneously sympathetic and offputting. I actually didn’t watch the film for a long time because I didn’t think the story sounded that great, but this is truly a case where the quality of the filmmaking raises the material above itself into something special.
Well Above Average