Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give wickedly entertaining performances, one as a woman consumed by her colleague's guilty secret, the other, a victim to her own dark obsessions - in this sexy, stylish thriller.

Dench mesmerises as Barbara Covett, a teacher who rules over her classroom with an iron fist, yet leads a desperate, solitary life outside it. That is, until she meets radiant new art teacher Sheba Hart (Blanchett). Although at first overjoyed with her newfound kindred spirit, when Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with a student, her jealousy and rage spiral out of control.