An Education - Movie No. 18

An Education

Director: Lone Scherfig

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina

Year: 2009

Watched: 18/1/11

What the fudge is it?

A young school girl is whisked off her feet and shown a world away from school books by a charming but slightly creepy older man. The police don't get involved because its the 1960's and everyone was on drugs.

What I Thought...

Several people tortured me to watch this. i don't mean tortured as in made me watch 4 eyed monsters again but every time i would bump into them they would ask me had i seen it. I had it on my list mainly to see what all the fuss was about. Glad to say i finally got around to it so they can stop annoying me.

Set in the 1960's An Education is the story of a young girl (Mulligan) destined for University. Her life revolves around study and the ultimate goal of reaching university to pursue her education. Although Jenny has a desire to get away from the suburban bore she currently occupies her desire appear overshadowed by her slightly overly pushy father.

Jenny is a clever girl with a knack for studying and books but definitely has a romantic side. She wants to see the world, listen to French music and visit exotic locations. On a chance encounter with an older man Jenny is given the opportunity to see the world and embrace all the culture she desires. As the relationship develops David spends more time with Jenny which involves meeting her parents.

David does a fine job of charming Jenny and her parents. There are two great sides to the David character; the side we see with Jenny and the front that is put in place for her parents. i was sitting thinking "how is he gonna wing this one with her parents?" and every time the charming creep pulls it out of the bag. At times i thought some of the excuses and scenarios highly unrealistic. i would never let me daughter (i don't have one) hang out with a random older man. His lifestyle is extravagant and spontaneous i have to admit even if i was a 16 year old girl i would wanna spend sometime with this guy. Does that make me easy? i don't care.

Then i have to sit back and say to myself the film was set in the 60's you cant apply modern thinking to it. I'm not saying that in the 60's there were no bad guys but i can assume there wasn't the same amount of protection and in general peoples were a lot more trusting unless on acid.

Carey Mulligan deserves all the praise she is getting for her performance but i think the rest of the cast do a great job too. Much of the comic relief is delivered from Jenny father played by none other than Dr Ock from spider-man. Dominic cooper and Olivia Williams are great too.

The whole film romances the idea of life experiences and the beauty of not following a set path through education to work. There is also a nice little debate of University Education Vs Life Experience and which will make you happier and in the end be worth more to you. Sadly the film seems to lose the bottom slightly in the end and wrap up in what i felt to be a slightly awkward manner. Like stopping off at Mc Donalds for dinner it was lovely while it lasted but it wont tide me over and its effects are short lived.

I'm still slightly impressed with that little corker i just wrote about the Mc Donalds :-)

Overall

Just a nice film with a little internal debate over life experience vs education. Of course Mulligans performance is great but Molina, Sarsgaard and Cooper are no slouches either. Glad i watched it but not as memorable as i hoped.

3.5/5