A Filmmaker's Review: "Albert Nobbs" (2011)

I initially didn't think too much of this film when it first came out, I thought it was just yet another period drama. But how wrong I was... This film is a modern masterpiece of disguise and intrigue, a film of secrecy and darkness. There is something incredibly tense about this film that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout even the every day life of the manor. The tagline is spoken almost as part of the dialogue in the film when the doctor speaks to Albert and says "We are all disguised as ourselves..." that's more of a realisation moment by the audience. But let's move on to the review for now...

My history with this movie dates back to when it came out in 2011 and the 2012 Academy Awards the following year. Everyone thought that because she was nominated, Glenn Close was going to win the Oscar for "Albert Nobbs" - by this time I had only seen snippets and scenes from the film but not the whole thing. I had however, seen "The Iron Lady" with Meryl Streep which ended up winning her Best Actress - I didn't even think that the performance was that good. It was thoroughly average. I went out of my way to watch the movies nominated for Oscars and so, I did eventually end up watching "Albert Nobbs" (2011) in the late of the year 2012. After that, I probably watched it one or two times over the years and I have come to appreciate just how extreme, intense and insane Glenn Close's performance really is.

I was watching the film last night and all I could think was "Holy hell, this is a good performance, isn't it?" And that's what I thought throughout the film, however, there is a mark lost in that and that's mainly because Glenn Close's performance was amazing and so was Mia Wasikowska - but the other characters were a bit lacklustre not to mention a few names, Aaron Taylor-Johnson couldn't really carry his character and Jonathan Rhys Meyers didn't do the best he's ever done. Let's take a bit of a look at the movie then...

First of all we have the storyline. Yes, there are a lot of characters but I promise it is easy to follow. However much I love the storyline of Albert Nobbs's life, I really don't care about things such as Joe being fired from his old job and fixing the boiler for Mrs. Baker. I think this space could've been filled more with the life of Albert. These filler scenes broke up the film yes, but slightly too much for my liking. However, Glenn Close's overwhelming performance patched up anything else you may have caught not so great in the film.

The filming style is not very standard although you may think so. There are time jumps between minutes or even hours and this effectively lets us know how important a certain aspect of the scene is. We don't see awfully unruly behaviour but we do see the other characters interacting and we can see how Albert feels about them. The performance is just very intense and possibly one of the greatest performances in any period drama I have ever seen.

Mia Wasikowska was also incredible in this film. I've never really seen her properly act before only having seen her in films like "The Double" and "Alice in Wonderland" in which she portrays the almost ignorant and dumb character. In this film she portrays a woman who is headstrong but fed the life that has been given to her. The character is complex, intense and just as overwhelming as the title character and when her story unravels, you cannot help but feel for her. However, I do not believe that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was the correct person to play the role of Joe - I think trading places with Jonathan Rhys Meyers may have helped the film.

In conclusion, I feel that this film is greatly underrated as a period drama. Normally, I am not too into period dramas but this one is not only different but subversive. As Glenn Close's Magnum Opus, I have to give her performance alone a 5 out of 5 - it is just one of the most extremely mind-blowing dramatic performances of the 21st Century and deserves far more recognition that it gets. I would definitely watch this film again if I got time because I just love that performance. I'm sorry, I'm talking about it far too much - but watch it and then you'll believe me. Glenn Close is something of legend.