I wasn’t able to fit “Albert Nobbs” into my Toronto International Film Festival schedule because of conflicts, but I did make it a priority to see this film when I got back to New York because I listed Glenn Close as a likely Oscar nominee for Best Actress in my morning line piece on the race a couple of weeks ago.

As I wrote then, it doesn’t hurt that Close (a five time nominee in the ’80s) spent nearly 30 years trying to line up a chance to repeat her gender-bending off-Broadway role in a film for which she is credited as co-writer and co-producer. She may be (sadly) a bit too old for the role and there will be considerable debate about whether she actually passes as a man —  she looks alarmingly like Conan O’Brien from some angles.

But she sure gives a powerhouse performance as an emotionally repressed woman who is forced to work as a hotel butler to survive in 19th century Ireland — and is undone when she falls in love with another woman.

I was even more impressed, though, by Janet McTeer as another faux man whose path Albert passes — a much more flamboyant and swaggering character who doesn’t suffer from Albert’s inner torment and is comfortable enough in her role to have married another woman.

“Albert Nobbs” has a rather claustrophic feel that, to a point, suits the story. The director, Rodrigo Garcia, is far better with actors (he’s done his best work for TV shows like “Six Feet Under” and “In Treatment”) than as a big-screen visual stylist.

Though sure to be embraced by the GLBT community and some feminists, it’s hardly a crowd pleaser. There’s much footage given over to a charmless young Irish couple (Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson) scheming to separate Albert from money he plans to use to open a tobacco shop and a real downer of an ending.

But Close and McTeer are definitely serious Oscar contenders.