Albert Nobbs gives actress Glenn Close – who also produced and co-wrote the screenplay and penned the closing song’s lyrics – a plum role as a woman posing as a male butler in 19th century Ireland. The story of gender roles of the Victorian era is a pet project for Close. She won an Obie in 1982 for her performance as Nobbs in a stage version of the George Moore’s short story, and is in the running for an Oscar for Best Actress for her latest performance.
Close paused to give her mutt, Bill a treat so she could talk about Albert Nobbs in our recent interview.
Though Close was long familiar with her character, she said becoming the reserved Albert Nobbs was a welcome change of pace after playing several over-the-top characters, ranging from Patty Hewes on TV’s Damages to Cruella de Vil, in 101 Dalmatians and even as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.
“Yeah, it was wonderful, really wonderful to play Albert after doing Cruella and Patty,” Close recalled with a laugh. “I’ve had a run of really strong, and really ‘out there’ women, so to go to someone very internal, it was a great challenge- very fulfilling.”
Close insisted that despite appearances, Albert Nobbs is a “she.” “I never think of Nobbs as a ‘he,’” Close said adamantly. “She puts on a disguise and looks out at the world with downcast eyes. Servants were not supposed to look people in the eye. They were supposed to face the wall when people passed by.”
Albert’s reaction shots, her look and her voice are the key to what makes the performance noteworthy. In one memorable scene, Albert appears wide-eyed when a stranger, Hubert Page (Janet McTeer), with whom Albert shares a bed one night, reveals her breasts. Page is practicing the same gender deception as Nobbs, and the two women soon become friends.
The actress revealed that her inspiration for the character’s comportment and movement were based on Charlie Chaplin.
“He’s of the human comedy, and there should be aspects of comedy and sadness (to Nobbs). His shoes are always too big and heavy, and his pants too long. That aspect is unconsciously comic. I was always very influenced by Laurel and Hardy and Emmett Kelly, that comic clown with Ringling Bros. Circus when I was growing up.”
Close learned to develop her lower register by working with a voice and dialect coach for Nobbs’ deep male voice. She reflected on something her William and Mary theatre professor, Howard Scammon, taught her; “You can have as great a speaking range as you do a singing range,” Close said. She added, “But that’s tricky.”
Tone is an important element in Albert Nobbs. The film, directed by Rodrigo Garcia (who has worked with Close twice before, on Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives), is shot in a lovely, burnished style. There are brief flights of fantasy, along with serious episodes such as when an epidemic takes over the hotel. But most of the drama stems from Albert hiding her female identity and from a cache of money she keeps concealed in her floorboards.
One storyline has the unemployed young man named Joe (Aaron Johnson) finagling a job at the hotel. Joe prompts his girlfriend Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a maid, to “walk out” with Albert to secure some of Albert’s money. Albert, however, is oblivious to the deception. She sees Helen as a potential partner for the tobacco shop she hopes to open.
“Albert starts this dream of finding someone who can help her have a business with insufficient information,” Close explained about the subplot. “She’s lived in hotels since she was 14 and doesn’t know anything. She models herself as the perfect Victorian gentleman, and tries to present herself as that, with her formal hat and umbrella. She knows nothing of human contact and intimacy. Albert is naïve. She’s not looking out with a furrowed brow, but with an ‘unknowingness.’”
Albert’s naïveté is also evident in her relationship with Mr. Page. Albert observes with a curious eye the closeness Mr. Page shares with her wife, Cathleen (Bronagh Gallagher). In one scene Albert wonders aloud if Mr. Page told Cathleen she was a woman before their wedding or after.
Close offered insight about the character’s perspective. “She’s worked for 30 years, and you think she would know more,” Close said, “but she doesn’t want to know more. It would jeopardize her secret. She tells Hubert she moved around-which is taken directly from the original story-because she was afraid of being found out.”
While Nobbs and Page are both practicing deception, Joe is also passing himself off – pretending to be a boiler’s apprentice to get a job at the hotel. His interactions with the staff form the love triangle that comes to a critical head in the film.
“I think Joe has an unbearable life,” Close acknowledged about the film’s key male character. “He is someone who is illiterate, and from an abusive background, with a vicious father. He is used to being beaten up, and abuse creates abuse. What I love about Joe is that he realizes this. He doesn’t want to become his father, or be in that vicious cycle. He survives in the only way he can. I respect him for that.”
She also praised the character of Hubert, who defies the established gender roles of the times. “Women had no rights then, so Hubert becomes a hero to me.”
Close’s perseverance in front of and behind the camera has paid off. What is more, it is evident throughout Albert Nobbs. Resolve proves to be the key to the characters, Close’s performance and the film itself.
