The best movie you've never heard of.

"We are bound by the secrets we share."

Every time I went into my Netflix Queue, I saw this title on the page. We'll think you'll like "Notes On a Scandal". As though Netflix could determine that I enjoy deep character studies and stories that had layers that required some thought and exploration of ones deepest feelings. Films where nothing explodes and there is absolutely no CGI. Netflix wore me down. I put it in the queue behind "I Am Legend", mostly because I like the stars and partly because I figured Netflix had a keen idea.

I liked it from the start, which is odd for me. Generally, I have to be drawn into a story and get acquainted with the characters, but this film drew me in from the start and I had no trouble finding the angles of the story and the complexity of the plot as it unfolded.

Kate Blanchett and Judi Dench. Can it get any better? I submit that it cannot. Both were Oscar nominated, Dench for lead actress and Blanchett for supporting. Beautiful acting and a story that is at once transparent and deep as the ocean. A story of love, lust and betrayed feelings disguised as friendship.

Barbara Covett: [voiceover] And then I realized my fury had blinded me. There was a magnificent opportunity here. With stealth, I might secure the prize long-term, forever in my debt. I could gain everything by doing nothing.

Relationships that start as friends sometimes have ulterior motives attached that one of the friends may be unaware. One of the layers of this story is the apparent distance of Dench's character [Barbara Covett] and how she is drawn to the new teacher at school, seemingly in opposition to the disdain to which she holds the others and even the institution in which she works.

Barbara Covett: People like Sheba [Blanchett] think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it's like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.

I hear ya Barbara.

Dench's character is desperately lonely, with only a cat to tie her into her feelings. One of the layers of the film is the relationship between Barbara and Sheba and how it affects the other relationships in Sheba's life, and ultimately her career.

If I continue to write about it, I'll spill the beans, and nobody wants that. Chances are, you'll see the plot conflicts early on, but it won't distract you from your appreciation of great acting - or at least it shouldn't. There's plenty of pithy dialogue (Patrick Marber's Best Writing Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination), great directing (Richard Eyre) and a Philip Glass soundtrack (nominated for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures) to keep you interested for 90 minutes.

If you find yourself wandering around the local video rental joint and have no idea what to pick up for your Friday movie night, grab this one. If you don't' agree that it was worth the time, I'll cheerfully refund your money.

Maybe not cheerfully, but ... well. Maybe not the money either, but I won't be able to bear your derisive comments.

I'll live, somehow.