Albert Nobbs (2011)

Albert Nobbs: Directed by Rodrigo García. With Glenn Close, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Mia Wasikowska, Pauline Collins. Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th-century Ireland, where women aren’t encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man so she can work as a butler in Dublin’s most elegant hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.

“u0026quot;You donu0026#39;t have to be anything but what you are.u0026quot; Hupert Page (Janet McTeer) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlbert Nobbs is a curious story, perhaps not like anything else youu0026#39;ve seen. If you wait until the end, you may love hearing Sinead Ou0026#39;Connor sing u0026quot;Lay Down Your Head.u0026quot; But in between beginning and end is a performance by Glenn Close as a gender-bending butler in 1890u0026#39;s Dublin to confound critics who use Meryl Streep as their litmus test.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhere Streep infuses her characters with at least a few eccentric affectations, Closeu0026#39;s Albert is a fascinating cipher of a woman playing a man so tied up like her corset that she rarely changes expression; her immobile face resembles a plastic-surgery job wound like her too tight, afraid to laugh or cry for fear of pulling her skin down from its moorings behind the ear. The stoicism is, however, not without its oddball charm, as you are unlikely to meet such an introvert, who is rivaled only by Melvilleu0026#39;s classic Bartleby.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlbert decides to woo young Helen (Mia Wasikowska) to marry him and settle into a tobacco shop, even though he has not told her he is a woman. Albert is helped by another disguised female, Hubert, played Oscar-worthy by Janet McTeer. Although Close, a producer and co-writer, doesnu0026#39;t reveal much about Albertu0026#39;s background and the reason for remaining in disguise other than the difficulty of single women surviving in late nineteenth-century Dublin, McTeeru0026#39;s Hubert satisfies us with background information and a current marriage inspiring Albert to pursue Helen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe short story and the 1982 play, for which Close as Albert won an Obie, might be warmer and more accessible. Although the film has much of John Hustonu0026#39;s The Dead in its set design, Hustonu0026#39;s and James Joyceu0026#39;s character development and disclosure are leagues ahead of this minimalist script and sets.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs annoying as Albert is in his privacy, Closeu0026#39;s Chaplinesque costuming and minimalist performance wonu0026#39;t go away. Watch out, Meryl.”