"Albert Nobbs", Glenn Close's long lost brother gets a starring role.

Albert Nobbs is a life long waiter.  He lives in a small room in the servants quarters where he works and fastidiously keeps a record of his tips and wages, saving up (presumably) for a rainy day in the floorboards of the Dublin hotel.  He is somewhat reclusive, and so attentive to detail he remembers which hotel guest are allergic to Roses versus Tulips.  The wait staff affectionately takes care of the small, older man; and he does the same, protecting the younger women from unwanted advances and making sure the older staff still is able to perform their duties so that they will not be tossed to the street as so many have in this depressed era of the late 19th century in Irish history.

Albert Nobbs is a quiet, dignified, private gentleman in every way save one; he is not a man.

The story of 'Albert Nobbs' unfolds as simply and demurely as the character of it's title.  Albert has no other name.  When his true identity is revealed in an accidental but benefitial way early on in the film, he reveals that he has always been 'Albert'.  

Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs is tremendous, and the script she is given to play in is equally refined.  The plot, in fact, is not really directed at Albert's true gender and the revelation thereof, but rather on how Albert will try to get out of the situation he has so long been forced into.

The supporting cast is a who's who of british acting.  You can very easily plot a new Harry Potter film based on who is in this one.  Though it is strange to see Mad-Eye Moody doning a beard; the suspension of disbelief is, for the most part, totally engrossing.  Mr. Weasley, apparently, lost all magical power, and for a moment has to basically beg Mr. Dobbs for a drink, to which Mr. Dobbs declines.

All joking aside, the film is really powerful in that it keeps the audience engrossed in the 'what if' of Dobbs' secret being revealed.  By not making it the focus of the plot, and rather giving Dobbs a hopeful outlook that after years of this horrible oppression s/he can finally live a life of his own making; the film transcends the 'gender bending/drag' genre and brings it instead to the point of high drama.  Close plays everything... er, close to the vest, which works well for Dobbs, a stiff upper lipped Irishman, in his struggle to find a reality that doesn't take into account the horrible upbringing that he had; and Janet McTeer's higher bravado in portraying another woman is disguise, helps display the spectrum of what women were thrust into in that particular economic clime.  In addition to the women as men, Aaron Johnson's character, Joe Mabry, gives the film another level of depth-- in his pre- Leo struggling Irishman dreaming of a new life in America; the film portrays not just the struggles women had to face, but also those of the working class, uneducated man.

It is a really compelling film which feels like a bit of a narrative history lesson.  For all of the social ills still in place in western society today, it is a reminder of how far we've come... and I, for one, am thankful for that.  Go see the film, I'd love to hear what you think.