Unfortunate flaws. * SPOILERS*

I don't agree with you completely. I think the story did go "someplace" in the end, or, least as a viewer, I felt "satisfied" with the ending. Of course, you don't get to see Albert Nobbs get his dream and live happily ever after. He dies, but then you really expected to not see him achieve his dream of the little shop. For that the movie seems to end just as you expected it to. Either Albert being cheated of all his money or someone discovering the cache and stealing it and Albert stuck at the hotel forever. Or Albert dying. That Page would return and re-earn the money and be able to use it to help Helen the ending presumed, for me, that Page would win Helen over who would accept her life to live with a woman because (as the underlying theme seems to point home), women abused by men may see living as a man with a woman (either a a true lesbian or as a matter of practical choice) a better alternative than being a woman and continuing to be abused by men and society. Helen really will not have any choice. No man is coming along in her caste to rescue a woman with a child. She will end up with Mr. Page. We like Mr. Page and we want him to be happy.

I don't think that women posing as men aren't ever convincing simply because when it happens in everyday life, people generally don't notice. Surely if they are convincing then no one knows about it?

You notice here because you know Glenn Close is in the movie and that she plays the title character. Probably it's also because as good an actress Glenn Close is, she hasn't been living the male role all of her adult life like Albert was.

There are a lot of transgendered people in the world, and most people wouldn't know they were as such. Sure there are some stereotypical male to female trans people who don't quite pass as women, but there are a heck of a lot we don't notice and never hear about. It is much easier for female to male trans people to pass as male and be totally unnoticeable.

You bring up a lot of good points. I feel like Helen was a weak point. I liked that she wasn't a total harpy but I felt like her motivation in doing what she did to Albert was forced. I didn't buy her romance with Joe and I feel like she didn't go far enough with Albert. Maybe if they had made her more malicious and then change as she became closer to Albert I could buy that. But as is it's just unconvincing and unmoving.

I agree, for those reasons I can only rate this a 5/10, given the excellent performances and technical aspects. But the script is severely lacking in proper denouement. Wasted character development that leads nowhere, and a 'surprise' ending with is out of place.

As for 'passing', I agree with you entirely. I found the little red-head boy pretty funny when he constantly stared at both Nobbs and Page. In some way, it hinted that many a folk suspected, but propriety and morals prevented anyone from even thinking such a thing.

***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**

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but it's hiding in plain sight. Once the small woman makes herself into a small quiet man, she just disappears and doesn't get noticed. People in 19th Century didn't realise a woman could be a decorator, so when she turned up big in working man's clothes, no one noticed she had a womanly face under it all.

Of course it's obvious in a movie to 21st century eyes but there were indeed some women who lived this way in the 19th century if only to be able to support themselves when there were almost no jobs available for females. And some women were doing it well into the 20th century like http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1660196/ .