Glenn Close plays the title character, a woman living as a man in early 20th century Dublin; the woman makes a convincing male waiter at a small hotel. She is repressed, obsessed with stashing a trove of tips to finance opening a shop and terrified that anyone will discover her secret.
Although Close is very good, the actress Janet McTeer gives the movie’s best performance; I will avoid a spoiler by describing her character. Pauline Collins is excellent as the hotel’s avaricious owner. Brendan Gleeson pops in for one of his delightful turns as the hotel’s doctor.
The fine young actress Mia Wasilkowska (The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland), however, just doesn’t seem to fit the period. She is stuck with playing the one dimensional role of an oversexed hotel maid who could be wearing a placard that says, “Knock me up”.
The problem with Albert Nobbs is that, to buy the story, you have to accept that a 50-year-old hotel worker has no idea whatsoever about certain aspects of sexuality. Now Albert Nobbs is asexual and traumatized from an early incident of sexual abuse, but that really doesn’t explain how she could have observed behavior of hotel guests for thirty years without even learning about some basic proclivities.
Another problem is that the visiting English elite is SO cruel to the Irish staff (not just with historically accurate cruelty, but over-the-top cruelty), that these story elements become broad and campy, which doesn’t mesh with the rest of the movie. Despite the best efforts of Close, McTeer, Collins and Gleeson, Albert Nobbs just doesn’t work.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66N5hjkq740]