Did anyone notice while making Albert Nobbs that the title character is just not that interesting?
Didn’t it occur to anyone that a supporting character, one in a very similar
life situation as Albert is not only portrayed in a far better performance but
he is more vividly drawn with a more compelling history. Is this a fault of the
screenplay by Glenn Close and John Banville or the short story “The Singular
Life of Albert Nobbs” by George Moore?
Close plays Albert Nobbs. This is not a Linda Hunt case
of a female actor playing a male character. Albert is a woman who has been
disguised as a man for an undetermined number of years, but it’s certainly long
enough that his entire identity is essentially male. For that reason I refer to
Albert with masculine pronouns. Only at two moments in the film did his actual
gender come to the fore. Set in the late 19th century, Albert makes
his living as a waiter at Morrison’s Hotel in Dublin.
