An Education (2009)

3.5

DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 10/09/09
Running Length: 95 Minutes
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Sexual Situations)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins
Director: Lone Scherfig
Screenplay: Nick Hornby, based on the memoir by Lynn Barber
Cinematography: John de Borman
Music: Paul Englishby
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Review by: Carter Moulton

1/23/10

An Education is the best period film of 2009—and I love me a good period film—although that isn’t saying much this year. Perhaps a more relevant praise would be to say that Lone Scherfig’s film about a 16 year-old girl (Carey Mulligan, who’s 24 in real life) growing up in 1960’s London and her romance with a thirty-something (Peter Sarsgaard) is the most inspirational film of the year. It's going to help me get a 4.0 this semester.

It starts and ends with Carey Mulligan. She deserves an Oscar for her role as Jenny, a hardworking girl determined—and pushed by her stingy parents—to study English at Oxford University. Mulligan couldn’t be more youthful in the role, her eyes often widened, as if Jenny is attempting to snap in-depth mental pictures of each new experience she encounters. These new experiences begin when Sarsgaard drives into the picture as David, well dressed and well spoken, who offers Jenny—and her cello—a ride home on a rainy day.

Photo © Sony Pictures Classics

David offers Jenny something her parents seem to be sucked of, something her current life is lacking: excitement. The very pointy Alfred Molina plays Jack, Jenny’s judgmental, socially-constipated father, but even he succumbs to David’s charms. He allows David to take Jenny out on numerous occasions, including a trip to David’s aunt’s house for dinner and a trip to Oxford University to see David’s ol’ buddy “Clive”—C.S. Lewis. All lies; all told elegantly.

David, strangely rich for his age, shows Jenny a great time and is respectful enough, but the more Jenny—and the audience—learns about David, the stronger the smell of fish. Jenny’s grades suffer while she frolics around with David, and confrontations with her teacher and principal inevitably await her (Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson, respectively).

This is pure coming-of-age stuff, and it succeeds where so many other “life” tales fail: it makes you care. Mulligan makes you care. Writer Nick Hornby—who also wrote High Fidelity—adapted this story from the memoirs of Lynn Barber, so there is some slight truth to this tale; but, even when truth gets cinematized, Hornby makes the characters human—save the out-of-this-world Jack.

John de Borman’s cinematography adequately captures the retro-Victoria of 1960’s London—images that remind you of Audrey Hepburn and that window she gazed out of while singing “Moon River.” An Education whisks together nostalgia, solid direction from Scherfig, an award-worthy performance, and the element of finding yourself—it’s a truly rewarding experience.