“Glenn Close has given us many indelible and moving portraits over the years, but folks, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! With ‘Albert Nobbs,’ I had no idea what I was going to see. It began, and I sat back to wait for her entrance; 20 minutes later, I realized the timid little man in that beautifully rendered world was she. Most men live lives of quiet desperation, and most women do, too. The options for poor women in the 19th century were horribly limited, especially if they were single and without the support of a family. The woman who becomes Albert Nobbs accidentally finds her salvation by adopting male dress and finding work as a man servant. Albert is really all right until he falls in love, and then, of course, all his troubles begin.
I have always loved, above all, the actors who disappear so thoroughly that you are no longer watching craft, but art. In a triumph of concentration, observation, intelligence and soul, Glenn has created, not reality, but Life. I think everyone is going to be stunned.”
