“Sing to me softly / your tales of woe,” wails Sinead O’Connor in the theme song to Albert Nobbs. It’s a particularly significant lyric from the song that plays over the credits of this drab affair that gently whispers its tale of never-ending woe amid a sea of grey and tweed. Director Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child) has made an unadventurous film that has only the smallest of fires in its belly. Albert Nobbs barely registers on any level whatsoever, with its potentially fascinating subject matter blunted by an adaptation that has taken its protagonist’s buttoned-up personality to heart and been sapped of life and character.
Glenn Close (Damages) stars and co-writes the screenplay (as well as the aforementioned turgid song) in what has long been a passion project of hers. Appearing on stage as “Albert Nobbs” at the same time as her 1982 breakthrough with The World According to Garp, Close has spent decades attempting to adapt it to film. She stars as the titular character, a servant at a posh Irish hotel frequented by rich clientele. What nobody else realises is that Albert is really a woman who merely donned a male persona and a suit some 30 years ago in order to survive the harsh living conditions of 19th century Ireland. Confronted by another male impersonator – the brash Hubert Page (Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds) – and her growing fondness for a young housemaid, Helen (Mia Wasikowska, The Kids are All Right), sees Albert realise his desire to break free.
Albert (Glenn Close) and Hubert (Janet McTeer) bond
Certainly sounds like ripe material for a filmmaker to play with, but the screenplay co-written with John Banville is too enslaved by its stage origins, with tedious narration and dialogue spelling out every inert feeling suffocating the film. Meanwhile, perhaps it’s the nature of the role, but Close’s performance is curiously uninvolving. There seems to be little going on underneath the surface other than Close trying, and failing, to convince as a man. Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) have little to do with their mean-spirited characters, but McTeer and a small role for Brenda Fricka (My Left Foot) shine brighter.
Helen (Mia Wasikowska) and Albert are a mis-matched pair
The production and costume design, while probably spot on for the times, suffer from a distinct lack of range. It quickly grows tiresome to see another dowdy waistcoat, limp maid’s uniform or musty stairwell. Similarly, cinematography by Michael McDonough is unexciting and reaffirms the material’s stage-bound origins, preferring to shoot every scene in a tight, interior manner. Save for one brief sequence that descends into camp – Albert, upon putting on a frilly dress, runs freely down a beach only to stumble like an episode of Funniest Home Videos – Garcia’s film is unengaging and flat. A disappointing effort from almost all involved.
Albert Nobbs is released in Australia on December 26th
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Cast: Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Janet McTeer, Aaron Johnson, Brenda Fricka, Brendan Gleeson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Pauline Collins.
