I was very lucky and was able to shift my schedule around so I can see Albert Nobbs on Saturday morning whereas I was going to have to miss it otherwise. Therefore, I did not watch the clip below, which features the first footage from the film to arrive online as Glenn Close plays the title character, Albert Nobbs, a woman pretending to be a man in 19th Century Ireland. She does this, according to the synopsis, in order to escape a life of poverty and loneliness.
I listed Close as my current #3 in my Best Actress Oscar Predictions posted just yesterday, quoting buzz out of the Telluride Film Festival where Sasha Stone at Awards Daily said, “[This] is not Oscar’s usual cup of tea in that Close deliberately holds back much more than she gives away. This is bound to leave some with discomfort and perhaps a feeling of dissatisfaction.” You getting any of that from this clip?
Additionally, Peter Debruge at Variety calls it “a career-crowning role,” but also adds, “[too] bad the film is such a drag.”
Other comments I’ve heard is that Close’s performance is actually overshadowed by co-star Janet McTeer playing a similar, gender-switch role. Todd McCarthy even said as much in his Hollywood Reporter review saying Close as the title character is “eclipsed by [McTeer’s] Hubert Page character.”
All that taken into consideration, you can now get a peek at the performance yourself in the seen below featuring close and Brendan Gleeson. I know you can’t tell if something is Oscar worthy from a 67-second clip, but I’d still be curious to read your thoughts in the comments.
As I said, I’ll be seeing Albert Nobbs on Saturday morning and hopefully will have a review by the end of the day. The film, however, isn’t currently expected to hit theaters until the Christmas time frame with no specific date yet set.
