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.

[6] Albert Nobbs is an English butler at the Morrison Hotel in late-19th-century Dublin, Ireland; his boss is Mrs. Baker.

After hearing there was a need for waiters, Albert bought a suit, was interviewed and hired, and began his life with a male identity.

Typhoid fever ravages Ireland and many, including Albert, get ill. Helen eventually discovers she is pregnant with Joe's child.

When Helen sees Hubert, she breaks down and reveals she earns nothing working for Mrs. Baker, but if she objects she will be separated from her son and thrown out into the street.

Close first played the titular character in a 1982 stage production and spent 15 years trying to turn it into a film.

[9] Production was scheduled to begin in July 2010 but was delayed until December, when Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson replaced Amanda Seyfried and Orlando Bloom.

The site's consensus reads, "Albert Nobbs tells a worthy story with an outstanding performance at its core, even if the end result is often somewhat less than the sum of its admirable parts".

An illustration of Morrison's Hotel, Dublin from 1821.
Close in Paris at the film's French premiere in 2012