I found this film to be quite spell-binding. It shows how difficult it was for people especially women to support themselves in Victorian Ireland. I think that Glenn Close is quite good in her role as Albert Nobbs. To avoid spoiling the film for those who might want to view it, I want to say as little as possible about the plot of this film except that Albert saves money carefully and has big dreams beyond working at the Morrison's Hotel. Pauline Collins is also quite good in her role as the hotel's owner who struggles to keep her business afloat and tries to keep her guests happy and returning to stay at her hotel.
The film was directed by Rodrigo Garcia who is a Columbian director, known for having written and directed Nine Lives. His direction of this film led to Oscar nominations for two of the film's actors, Glenn Close & Janet McTeer.
Here are a few scenes from the film.
Albert is amused by the chatter of co-workers.
Hubert Page, Albert's unwanted room-mate.
Albert serving the doctor.
Albert visits Hubert & his wife.
Pauline Collins as the Morrison's Hotel owner.
Helen and Joe go for a walk.
To see some of the scenes from this film, you can watch a trailer of Albert Nobbs.
By the way, in addition to the two Oscar nominations, this film also had nominations for a GLAAD media award, a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild award. It won an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA), Tokyo International Film Festival Award and a Satellite Award.
The idea of women living as men is not that strange. For many women it was a survival strategy or even simply the only way to achieve their career goals.There are a number of interesting cases in history of women who lived as men. One of the most famous ones is Pope Joan.
I found this interesting New York Times article about Albanian women who lived as men.
There's also this list of Top Ten Men Who Were Really Women.
