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Originally published Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 3:01 PM
Movie review
'Albert Nobbs': Gender-bender is wistful, intriguing
A review of "Albert Nobbs," a movie based on a story about a 19th-century Irish woman who disguises herself as a man to escape a life of vulnerability and poverty. It stars Glenn Close.
Seattle Times movie critic
'Albert Nobbs,' with Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson, Janet McTeer, Brendan Gleeson, Brenda Fricker, Pauline Collins. Directed by Rodrigo Garcia, from a screenplay by John Banville, Gabriella Prekop and Close, based on the short story by George Moore. 113 minutes. Rated R for some sexuality, brief nudity and language. Several theaters.
Albert Nobbs is a small man with a face that's pale and almost featureless; it's as if he's been partially erased. As an employee of Morrison's Hotel in 19th-century Dublin, he serves meals, polishes shoes and quietly stands at attention, acknowledging the guests with a pinched, almost inaudible "sir" or "ma'am." When not immediately engaged in an activity, he seems to go into a staring trance, as if making himself invisible unless he's of use.
At night, he carefully counts the coins given to him in tips by hotel guests, storing them under a loose floorboard in his comfortless room, against better days to come. And night, perhaps, is the only time he allows himself to think about his secret: He's actually a woman, one who disguised herself years ago in hopes of escaping a life of vulnerability and poverty.
In "Albert Nobbs," Glenn Close plays the main character, co-wrote the screenplay and is a producer of the film; it's a longtime passion project for her, inspired by a play about the same character (from a short story by 19th-century Irish author George Moore) in which Close performed some 30 years ago.
It's a small, gentle film with wistful sadness peeking around its corners, and when it's over you may feel as if you want a little more, as if we're not much closer to understanding Albert than we were at the beginning. Asked his name by a new acquaintance (Janet McTeer, who's marvelous) who knows his secret, he promptly replies "Albert." Your real name, insists his friend. The childlike Albert looks confused. "Albert," he says, seeming a little upset. This woman has so successfully removed her true identity, she doesn't even know her name anymore.
It's a challenge for Close to make a creature so tightly controlled into a sympathetic character, and yet the actress does so with a lovely subtlety: We learn, long before we're told, that something terrible once happened to the person now called Albert, from the shadow in Close's eyes. Albert, however, still has fantasies: a fire-lit parlor of his own; a little shop with his name out front; the end of loneliness. He innocently tries to find a partner for those dreams, in the form of a pretty, impetuous hotel maid (Mia Wasikowska); we know, before we're told, that this won't turn out well.
Director Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives") nicely re-creates the claustrophobic world of the hotel, and there's a "Downton Abbey"-ish pleasure to the upstairs-downstairs drama and the elegant costumes. But at this film's quiet heart is a character who almost isn't there, whose very stillness speaks volumes, and whose story, though never quite told, captures our imaginations.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com
