Albert Nobbs

Albert Nobbs is a 2011 period drama film directed by Rodrigo García and starring Glenn Close. The screenplay, by Close, John Banville and Gabriella Prekop, is based on the 1927 novella Albert Nobbs by George Moore. The novella had been earlier adapted as a play entitled The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs in which Close starred Off-Broadway in 1982 and for which she won an Obie Award for Best Actress.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, though the performances of Close and Janet McTeer were praised. They were nominated for the Academy Award in the categories of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, and also received Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Plot

Albert Nobbs is an English butler at the Morrison Hotel in late-19th-century Dublin, Ireland; his boss is Mrs. Baker. Although born female, Albert has spent the last 30 years living as a man. He has also been secretly saving money to buy a tobacconist shop to gain some measure of freedom and independence.

Recently unemployed Joe Mackins arrives at the hotel and cons his way into a boilerman job. He and a maid there, Helen Dawes, become lovers. Hubert Page, tasked with painting at the hotel, discovers Albert's secret. He reveals to Albert that he is keeping the same secret about himself, living as a man after escaping an abusive husband.