Albert Nobbs will be the first film I analyze. The film's been out for a while, released in 2011 sometime, it was nominated for several Oscars, including a Best Actress nod for Glenn Close. Glenn, I haven't seen The Iron Lady but I'm sure you were much better. Close plays Albert Nobbs, a woman in 19th century Ireland, way back before women were encouraged to be independent. She cross dresses a Albert and works as butler. When she meets another cross dresser, Hubert (played by Janet Mcteer) her perspectives on success change a little bit. Hubert is much more comfortable with her cross dressing and sexuality. She even has a wife. Albert, who dreams of opening a cigar shop hopes to acquire the same success by courting Helen, a maid (played by Mia Wasikowska) who has little interest in the person she believes to be a little old man and more interest in a young boiler who works at the hotel.
All this sounds like a great premise. But I was left feeling disappointed with the story.
With Glenn Close looking like an awkward deer caught in the headlights most of the film and Mcteer convincingly androgynous. Is she really that tall? I felt uncomfortable feeling any attraction to her, but I enjoyed her performance more then Glenn Close's. But it becomes hard to watch as Albert hopelessly tries to get together with Helen, who endlessly takes advantage of her, hoping to bribe her into giving her enough money to buy a ticket to America. Meanwhile, Nobbs doesn't get a clue about the fact that Helen has no interest in him/her, nor does the thought of two woman living together strike her as odd.
The whole time I wasn't sure what they were trying to make the audience understand. Life was hard for a woman, a lesbian, a cross-dressing lesbian in the 19th century? I got that. But what I wasn't ever clear on was Albert's sexuality. Confused, is a good answer. She seems to have dressed up as a man so long that she identifies as one, not even remembering a female name, only Albert. When her and Mcteer dress up as woman just for fun they really do look like men dressing as women. In fact, we never even see her as a woman.
None of this is inherently bad. For what it's worth, I enjoyed Albert Nobbs, but I felt like it could've been much better. I normally enjoy ambiguity and I'll admit it's refreshing to see a different take, not on the side of comedic of a cross-dressing tale. But with a glum ending and enough uplift, Nobbs leaves much to be desired.
