Juan Barquin/Columnist
Glenn Close, who has been delivering stunning performances for three decades, has taken a big risk with her latest role in the film, “Albert Nobbs.”
Set in the late nineteenth century, the film focuses on Albert (Close), the reserved butler who works at the Morrison Hotel. Since the age of 14, Albert has kept a big secret: he is a woman under wraps.
With the hotel in need of renovations, Nobbs shares her bedroom with the house painter, Hubert Page (Janet McTeer), for a night. Unable to hide her disguise from him, Albert’s secret is revealed to Hubert, who reassures her that she has nothing to fear.
After years of saving money underneath the floorboards and a boost of confidence from Hubert, Albert’s dreams of opening up a tobacco shop and finding love begin to seem a little less impossible.
“Albert Nobbs” has been something of a pet project for Glenn Close. Oftentimes, men pose as women for comedic purposes, but a woman portraying a man is rarely done.
Her performance as Albert does not command the screen as she tends to do in her film and television work. Instead, she adopts a subtle and meek personality that fits her character just right.
While Close does a decent job as Albert, Janet McTeer is the true scene-stealer. Her portrayal of the confident painter does a better job at grasping the audience’s attention than the lead actress’ portrayal of Albert. This may be attributed to the outgoing personality of Hubert.
Aside from these performances, the film leaves little else to care about. The supporting characters barely develop, if at all, and that doesn’t add much to Albert’s journey for an identity.
Mia Wasikowska has had better roles than the dull Helen, who is the object of Albert’s affection. The inclusion of Aaron Johnson is the most pointless of them all —he doesn’t serve to do much more than take off his shirt and look annoyed in most scenes.
The screenplay, co-written by Close and John Banville, doesn’t help the film much either. It doesn’t dive into the history of Albert and, with a character that has been willingly cross-dressing for decades, one wants to know the reasons behind this drastic choice.
Rodrigo Garcia, whose work on “Mother and Child” proves that he fits well in intimate tales of women, drops the ball on this one. His slow style just doesn’t work well with the film.
Many people, including the Academy Award voters, have hailed the performances of the actors, but the true stars of the film are the make-up artists who have earned a well-deserved nomination this year. Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson and Matthew Mungle manage to give both Janet McTeer and Glenn Close enough masculine features to pass them as men. That is something that deserves recognition.
There is a certain TV quality to the film that keeps “Albert Nobbs” from achieving greatness. It may be a personal project to Glenn Close, but, much like a few other films this year, it is not any better than the average Oscar nominee.
“Albert Nobbs” is currently in theaters and showing at AMC Sunset Place 24, Coral Gables Art Cinema, Paragon Grove 13, Regal South Beach Stadium 18, Frank Theaters Intracoastal 8 and AMC Aventura 24.
Reel to Reel is a weekly movie review column. Juan Barquin is an intern for the Miami International Film Festival. Email at life@fiusm.com.
About Post Author
