Albert Nobbs
Glenn Close has received her eighth Oscar nomination for her title role in the film, Albert Nobbs, portraying a soft-spoken, but efficient butler at a nineteenth century hotel in Ireland.
Albert leads a relatively quiet life until Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins), the hotel’s proprietor, hires Hubert Page (Oscar nominee Janet McTeer) to paint the hotel and to room with Albert.
Albert tries to fall asleep next to Hubert, but quickly jumps out of bed after a flea finds its way into his shirt. Hubert is awakened and discovers that Albert is actually a woman.
Albert begs Hubert to keep his secret. Not only does he keep his secret, but the next day reveals that he’s also a woman. Albert unexpectedly finds not only a kindred spirit in Hubert, but also someone that awakens his need for a more domestic life.
Albert finds himself falling for Helen (Mia Waiskowska), a
maid who’s carrying on an affair with the hotel’s repairman, Joe (Aaron Johnson). Albert asks Helen to go out for a walk with him. Helen is reluctant, but Joe encourages her to go with him. Joe sees the match-up as a way for him to swindle expensive gifts from Albert, but later decides to use Helen to hustle money out of Albert so that he and Helen could move to America.
Everything is going according to plan until Helen finds herself pregnant with Joe’s child while at the same time Albert’s charade begins to catch up with him.
Helen ultimately finds herself caught in the middle of a triangle between Albert and Joe which results in events that not even Albert himself could see coming.
Close first played the role of Albert on the stage in 1982. Since then she has wanted to bring her role to the big screen and even put some of her own money into the film. Her passion for her character is admirable, but it’s a shame that it doesn’t come through in her performance.
She’s too careful and precise in her movements and speech to ever become fully convincing as a man. I found it hard to believe that the staff wasn’t already suspicious about him before the movie began.
The main problem with Albert’s character lies within the adaptation by John Banville and Close. He’s bland and boring. There’s nothing remotely interesting about him and his reasons behind his charade ask more questions than are answered.
McTeer’s Hubert is a much more fully-rounded out character. She’s more convincing, because she fully embraces being a man. Her presence is so large that she overshadows Albert whenever they're together. McTeer’s performance is so strong that it wouldn’t surprise me if she pulls an upset in the Best Supporting Actress category at this year’s Oscars.
There are also strong supporting performances from Wasikowska, Collins and Johnson, but Director Rodrigo Garcia’s approach comes across as an androgynous edition of Masterpiece Theater. There are expertly crafted costumes and sets, but Garcia fails to fully engage the viewer in the story, especially with his lack of build-up of events and snail’s pacing.
Albert Nobbs was clearly a labor of love for Close. Perhaps Academy members noticed this and rewarded her with a nomination. I’m glad that her efforts paid off, but her performance as Albert simply doesn’t measure up to her previously nominated roles in films such as 1982’s The World According to Garp or 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons.