Albert Nobbs - movie review

Release date: 27 April 2012
Certificate: 15
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Starring: Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Janet McTeer

What's the story?
A woman masquerading as a manservant in a shabby Dublin hotel (Close) risks being found out by her employer after she decides to make a young maid (Wasikowska) her wife.

What did we think?
The persistence Close displayed bringing this story to the screen is far more admirable than the movie itself, a befuddling affair built around a performance that tries hard but doesn't convince. We're still trying to work out how it managed to get a pair of Oscar nods earlier this year.



We thought Jaye Davidson was a bird in The Crying Game. We bought Hilary Swank as a bloke in Boys Don't Cry. Hell, we even accepted Dustin Hoffman as a woman in Tootsie. Why, then, can't we swallow Glenn Close as a man in Albert Nobbs?

Well, she doesn't look like a man. She's not built like a man. And she sure doesn't act like a man, something that seems entirely lost on the staff and guests at the hotel she's been waiting table at for many years. If we can see it why can't they? Did everyone in 1800s Ireland have really dodgy eyesight, or were they drinking too much Guinness to notice?

Back when Close first played Albert, 30 years ago on the New York stage, audiences might have been willing to take her character's subterfuge at face value. Now, alas, it just feels weird: a hurdle too high in a film too slim. There is much to like in Rodrigo Garcia's handsome period piece, not least Janet McTeer's performance as another he-male imposter and Mia Wasikowska's turn as a fickle young minx out to milk Albert dry. All in all, though, it's a bit of a drag.

Verdict: Dude looks like a lady.