Albert Nobbs

"Albert Nobbs" is a film that knows exactly what it's about. Every scene underscores the theme. In this case, we're concerned with identity and the consequences of living in opposition to who you are. Every frame of this film explores identity (especially gender identity), both in plot and character. It gives the story focus and a sense of clarity.
Albert Nobbs is a waiter in Ireland in the mid 1800's. It wasn't easy to be a waiter back then. The management was demanding, the customers even more so. You can believe me in this since I was a waiter for a long while and had it been me instead of Albert, I would've shoved their mid-day meal up their snobby Irish arses. But Albert has a cultivated calm and has lifted subservience to an art form. You see, Albert Nobbs has a secret. Albert is a woman who has lived for decades as a man in order to survive and also because being a man is true to who he is. Yes, "he" because in all things except physiology, Albert is a man.
He also has big dreams. Albert has saved his money and longs to open a Tobacconist Shop and take a "wife". He has to figure out how exactly to let his future love know about his true gender without having her run for the hills on their wedding night. It's a dilemma, but Albert may have found a good source of information in Janet McTeer's character. That's all I can give you without spoilers.
Glenn Close plays Albert with earnestness and innocence. She is fantastic, Oscar worthy even. It would be a great cap to a great career and she deserves it both for her performance and for being the driving force behind this passion project (she also co-wrote the script and even the lyrics of the credit roll song). Janet McTeer is so wonderful that I would call it a revelation if I didn't already know just how good an actress she is.
"Albert Nobbs" is one of those films that comes as a delightful surprise and offers hope for the state of cinema in the face of big budget craziness and lowest-common-denominator story telling. Make a point of seeing this one.