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SALT LAKE CITY — Trying to describe the plot line of "Albert Nobbs" is a daunting task. It's a bit like an artistically slow-paced classic from "Merchant Ivory" colliding with "The Crying Game." Ah, already the imagination runs wild.
Glen Close is receiving great acclaim, including an Oscar nomination, for her role as Albert, a 19th Century woman who survives a traumatic childhood and scratches out a livelihood in a male dominated society by passing as a man working as a waiter.
Although Albert has been in service at various locations in the British Isles, her current home is a hotel/boarding house in Dublin. For many years, she has been just one player in a strange but fascinating micro-society comprising of the hotel's staff, guests and ownership. Here, Albert Nobbs leads a lonely but stable existence, even providing the opportunity to stash away some money towards his/her goal of buying and operating a tobacco shop.
While replete with great performances, the person most deserving of her Oscar nomination is Janet McTeer.
Albert's world is rocked when the proprietress of the hotel hires a house painter to spruce up a few things. Janet McTeer stars as Mr. Page who, while plying his trade, ends up bunking with Albert. Here, both of the men discover that their roommate is not a man at all. The friendship that ensues shakes Albert to his core when he finds that Mr. Page is engaged in a loving, lasting relationship with "his wife," all in a time and in a society that has little tolerance for those who don't fit into the norm.
Inspired by Mr. Page, possibilities never contemplated by Nobbs begin to gel, leading to sad and even pathetic, misplaced attempts at companionship, if not love.
What initially appears to be a very slow-paced film, this movie manages to pack in a jumble of intriguing and even complex storylines. Mia Wasikowska stars as a scullery maid who falls in love with a handsome repairman and ends up not only in "the family way" but also the target of Albert's newly developed attentions.
I'm glad I saw this film, but I'm not anxious to see it again.
And then there's Brendon Gleeson as Dr. Holloran, a guest of the hotel who, while not exactly a model citizen of the medical community, does serve as an essential voice of reason.
While replete with great performances, the person most deserving of her Oscar nomination is Janet McTeer; she is simple fabulous. With all due respect to Glenn Close, I found her character to be -- creepy.
I'm glad I saw this film, but I'm not anxious to see it again.
"Albert Nobbs" is rated R and gets 3 stars.
