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Glenn Close is heartbreakingly good as the role of Albert in Albert Nobbs, a film based on the short story by George Moore, adapted to screen by Glenn Close, John Banville and Gabriella Prekop, and directed by Rodrigo Garcia. Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to make a living in 19th century Ireland. Thirty years after taking on this persona, Albert realizes the boundaries she has set for herself and wonders what it would take to step outside of them.
The entire beginning of this film is quiet as Albert is largely an observer. Serving as a butler in the hotel owned by the self-important Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins), Albert watches distinguished men and women wine and dine, get nonsensically drunk and act like fools. Albert’s observations are a stark contrast to her sophisticated etiquette, proving that manners aren’t reserved solely for the upper classes. In this way, the film is a critique of social boundaries in 19th century Ireland.
Things change for Albert when Mr. Hubert Page (Janet McTeer) comes for work at the hotel. Their encounter sparks something in Albert, and she realizes she is not necessarily confined to the life she’s made for herself. Closes’ character takes matters into her own hands, dreaming of a two-story tobacconist store with a parlor in back for his potential “wife,” Helen (played by Mia Wasikowska), who is being suited with false promises from Joe Mackie (Aaron Johnson).
This film is largely about perception and deception, how what you see on the surface isn’t necessarily what’s buried underneath. Albert is forging her identity; Joe has promised Helen that he will take her to America, though Albert is keenly aware that he will not follow through; Mrs. Baker charms those around her into thinking she has a “good, Christian heart,” and Mrs. Baker’s husband cheats on her with one of the hotel maids. These deceptions build tension in the film, showing us that what we think we so acutely observe is not always the truth.
At the heart of this story is a deep obsession with identity and the dreams we create for ourselves, and what happens when we realize that they may never reach their full potential. Though the film starts off quietly, it eventually begins to speak, and when it does, the message is very loud.
