An Education

There is a performance by Carey Mulligan in “An Education” that is so inherently charming that I would like to say it is the sole reason for the film going above and beyond as it does, give her an Academy Award for her work and move on. But Lone Scherfig’s film has a nuance to it that transcends boilerplate Oscar-bait becoming a wholly original work of art.

“An Education” is a British film in the early, pre-Rock and Roll 60’s of London. Jenny (Mulligan) is a senior in high school, top of her class, itching to attend Oxford, constantly nagged by her supportive but pushy father Jack (Alfred Molina), plays the cello, has a quasi-relationship with an equally nerdy and fastidious boy and is bored out of her mind. She lives in the type of household where a Latin dictionary serves as a suitable birthday present, and both her father and would-be boyfriend think highly of her enough to get the same gift.

But Jenny is convinced all of London is this boring and that all Londoners are this bored. Curiously enough, several of her teachers think the same, but they know it is imperative for her to be successful and intelligent. Isn’t that just classic British pessimism?

What develops is a film that seeks to define happiness and how a person approaches the future. It’s not a coming of age story so much as it considers the multiple ways in which coming of age is deemed appropriate.

But I have not even begun to describe what happens to this girl. Stranded in a rainstorm, she is picked up by a stranger, an older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard). They talk, have a few laughs, and when they meet again, David asks her out to a classical music concert and dinner.

We’re all expecting the worst from this. He’s got a hidden agenda, quite reasonably with the hope of sexually abusing her. She’s naïve and young and doesn’t realize he doesn’t actually care, etc. But everything is perfect here. Jenny is thrilled to find friends interested in a more sophisticated lifestyle. Her parents are instantly charmed by David, acknowledging that he’s an adult with money and stature. Why should she put herself through Oxford if he can take care of her?

But the film does not become about lying, sex, abuse or even growth. David seems to be preoccupied with something around Jenny, but it certainly isn’t sex. She wants to be taken seriously in the bedroom, and Jenny is more or less taking advantage of him to make her first time memorable. She doesn’t seem to mind his job or his lifestyle, so long as she remains mature, happy and remaining uncorrupted by the finer side of life.

This is a difficult part to play because it requires that the character go through a major lifestyle change without altering her personality to assumed clichés of pretension or neglect. Mulligan handles it like a pro. Always she remains serene and glowing on screen, charming and suave when she needs to be and ruffled and guarded in scenes of a more pressing drama. Critics have been calling her the next Audrey Hepburn, and it is a valid comparison in more than the resemblance.

Mulligan’s performance is not the only great one here. Alfred Molina’s dialogue is exactly that of the pathetic parent in these teen romance movies, but he delivers each of his lines with an exaggerated satire that gives the screenplay a subtle comic relief. We never get the idea that he’s the idiot parent or the overprotective nurturer, so when he opens up to his daughter to console her, it’s one of the more genuine moments in the film.

Peter Sarsgaard has an excellent chemistry with Mulligan, but who wouldn’t with someone so charming? Emma Thompson has a few brief moments on screen, and she proves again she is one of those veteran British actresses capable of upstaging just about anyone, even a performance as intelligent as Mulligan’s.

“An Education” is a great film because it tells not of the education itself but of the value of an education and the right one. Nick Hornby’s screenplay (“High Fidelity,” “Fever Pitch”) teaches the simple lessons that something is worth more when it is earned, that it is better to have loved and lost to have never loved at all, and that happiness is determined on the road to a fulfilling life, not at the destination.

How great it is that Scherfig went out of her way to find depth in this true story based on British journalist’s Lynn Barber’s memoirs. I can only hope people will not ignore it on the assumption that its drama exists purely on the surface level. Those coming out of the film surprised will have received an education they deserved.

4 stars

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