Fridae

Catfight! Catfight! Come see two Oscar-winning actresses growl, hiss, pull each other's hair and scratch each other's eyes out. One of them is a slinky, feline beauty whose r'sum' includes playing Queen of the Elves and Katharine Hepburn. The other is a battle-seasoned veteran whose 50-year career has seen her play everything from Lady Macbeth to James Bond's boss.

The actresses are, of course, Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench respectively. And even though only one of them wears a royal title, both of them reign as queens of the screen. Both have won numerous acting awards, and both have nabbed Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress respectively for Notes on a Scandal ' the best lesbian drama in years, if not ever.

Judi plays a lonely closet lesbian who teaches history at a public school in London. Cate plays a young married art teacher who has just joined the staff. Very quickly, Judi starts to fancy the sweet and unassuming Cate (who the film frequently bathes in warm light to accentuate her luminous beauty). The older woman tries to get closer to the younger one, first by helping her discipline her class, then by offering a sympathetic ear to her quarter-life crisis.

The women grow closer as friends, but things come to a head (quite literally) when Judi catches Cate giving head to her 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson). Jealous and indignant, Judi demands an explanation from Cate, who tearfully confesses that she is having an affair with the boy. Judi soon realises that she could use this information to her advantage. Judi agrees to keep it a secret from the school and Cate's husband, as long as Cate agrees to be a better 'friend' to her.

Of course, Judi wants more than friendship. She wants to gain control of Cate, gently manipulate her, and ultimately possess her. And when her plans don't quite go as she expects, this intense psychodrama morphs into a gripping thriller filled with twists and turns ' not to mention a wickedly good catfight.

With strong performances all round, Notes on a Scandal is a terrific film. It accurately portrays the emotions of a gay person in love with his/her straight friend. The covert glances, the tremulous brushing of skin, the pain of longing for someone you could never have, the secret wish that you could somehow convert him/her and make him/her see the foolishness of being straight.

Even though Judi Dench the actress is straight, she plays her role with more truth and intensity than, I suspect, Jodie Foster or Anne Heche ever could. The way she steals small opportunities to gaze into Cate's lovely face and limpid eyes, to caress her soft hands and peek at her cleavage, is nothing short of amazing.

LGBT viewers who have had a secret crush on someone straight will totally identify with her character. For when the object of your affection unsuspectingly welcomes you into her life ' thinking that you're straight too ' you can't help exploiting your vantage point in seemingly harmless ways.

Even though Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) are the frontrunners in the Best Actress Oscar race, Judi Dench's performance is arguably superior to both. If she were to win, it would have chalked another victory for queer cinema which reached a milestone last year when Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and Felicity Huffman (TransAmerica) nabbed the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars for playing queer characters.

Meanwhile, some lesbians I know have taken offence to the way Judi is depicted as a lonely, bitter and scheming lesbian. But it should be noted that almost all the main characters come off looking bad: Cate is sleeping with her 15-year-old male student, who is obviously using her for sex. Cate's much-older husband (Bill Nighy) admits to preferring younger women and leaving his older first wife to marry her. And all the teachers in the school come off as hypocritical and gossipy.

Notes on a Scandal is certainly one of the best lesbian films there is, superior to My Summer of Love (2004) and Saving Face (2004), and way up there with Monster (2003), Mulholland Drive (2001) and Show Me Love/Fucking Amal (1998). You girls can't call yourself a dyke if you miss this.

What it should have been: Felicity Huffman nabbed a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) last year for her leading role in Transamerica.