Albert Nobbs: What Reviewers Missed

After seeing the much anticipated thirty-years-in-the-making film version of Glenn Close' darling character Albert Nobbs this past Friday... I can safely say most reviewers just don't get it.

Close herself, in interviews about the film has made little mention nor hint of the under/overtones of muted sexuality and gender swapping expression situated as the historical precedent of modern LGBT* identities. Given the time period, this makes sense. Terms like "lesbian," "butch,"
"trans," "FTM," while possibly accurate, were not in common use in the Victorian setting of Nobbs' transgression. Reviewers and Close have ubiquitously referred to the little man's character as a woman, excruciatingly trapped in the charade of passing as a man - for economic purposes. "She" was "born a woman" and has taken on passing for male in order to survive in a harsh Dublin in which lower class women are beaten down and sexually assaulted for their efforts at self sustainability. Most reviews I read took great pains to emphasize the pathetic nature of Nobbs and his passability as a real man. The allusion of a sexless, flat affected, gnome comes to mind from their unanimous descriptions. In fact, the secondary character of Hubert Page was conceded much more male "credibility" for his tall frame, exaggerated swagger, and oozing confidence.

But, what such reviews inevitably miss in their fixation on Nobbs' believability as a "real man" who performs real masculinity is the entire history of butch lesbian and trans history and invisibility. Whether Nobbs is, indeed, butch or trans or both is besides the point. But, given it is the first such overdue overt historical portrayal by mainstream actors and cinema of female masculinity and performance, the significance of Nobbs' actions and painfully awkward, tight roping path of near discovery has been completely overlooked. Close' portrayal of Nobbs' frozen affect and stiff regard, whilst subtley and poignantly conveying his pervasive emotional intake, responses, and reactions to his environment are what make the story. It is a story of the psychology of passing in a time where few did, that is worthy - not whether Close' slight frame, facial features and makeup, hand size etc. do the trick. In fact, Close/Nobbs' stature and affect are precisely what induce panic and stifled appreciation in the audience and him/her/hirself, of every moment undiscovered. It is the invisible history of (passing) butch women and trans people that reviewers are oblivious of which renders the plot inaccessible to them for any more meaning than deflated manhood and missing plot.

Yet, it is precisely this snippet of watching what is possibly quite an accurate portrayal of a facet of early lesbian, butch and/or trans history that is so enticing and exciting for viewers who pay attention to the interplay of sexual and gender transgression. The subtle nuances of identity formation and desire which come to fruition as a result of happenstance, fit, and exploration pre-identity terms are of special interest in that lines between identity are altogether lost. It really doesn't matter if Albert regards himself/herself as man or woman, neither or both. It is clear from the interplay of stories between Nobbs and Page that there has been from early days, an overlap in the experiences of those who were assigned female/feminine roles as birthright, though quietly and defiantly seek otherwise.