An Education (2009)

Life is hard when you're sixteen and smarter than most of the people around you, especially when those people include your parents. You end up restless and bored much of the time and that, in combination with hormones, can cause you to sometimes do some very, very stupid things.

That's the situation Jenny (Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan, best known to me from her role as Sally Sparrow), is in in An Education, the Oscar-nominated movie from director Lone Scherfig and writer Nick Hornby (known for such works as About a Boy. Watch it and realize that pudgy little boy grew up to be, oh, quite lovely). She's very much fed up with her life and when she meets an older man, David (played by the always reliable Peter Sarsgaard), who gives her the respect and attention no one else does.

From the start it's pretty clear what David wants from her, and it's quite clear Jenny is at least somewhat aware of this. She seems to be willing to go along with that in return for the gifts, the activities and a chance to be around people who are more "her sort".

David is a charming fellow, even able to get Jenny's parents to accept him and allow her to do things like accompany him to Oxford or Paris. Her father (played by the always reliable Alfred Molina), appears to be completely snowed. Her mother less so, though she's still willing to let her daughter go off with this man in his 30's.

David's charms are somewhat undone when Jenny finds out the various ways he makes a living, which include, but are not limited to, stealing valuable art from old women. Surprisingly, she's willing to go along with this, but eventually finds out something even more dark and unpleasant about David.

The film is intelligent and entertaining and paints David in a surprisingly sympathetic light until towards the very end. I say "surprisingly" because do let's remember Jenny is a minor and what he does with her is what's described as "statutory rape" in many places and is even called "rape of a child" in others. Of course this fact isn't really addressed, but it was always there in the back of my mind.

I also found the character of Jenny to be delightful! Very smart, very charismatic, but also vulnerable and not quite as world-weary as she likes to think of herself as being. Her character, and indeed the entire story, is based on a memoir by journalist Lynn Barber. If there's more about Barber's life that she can turn into stories, I'd enjoy that. I'd like to see Jenny again.

It's somewhat hard to classify this movie. It's not a comedy, it's not a drama. It's certainly not a romantic comedy. It probably fits into that tired non-genre genre of "coming of age". I think I'll settle for just calling it "very good" and leave it at that.

**Spoiler alert**...though the plot really isn't a secret.

The basic plot of An Education is slight, but superb acting and directing lift the story of a schoolgirl's affair into a study of regret, fear and yearning--it's often very funny, sure, but still a little heartbreaking despite the essentially `happy ending.'

Carey Mulligan was rightly praised for her portrayal of Jenny, but I have to say that Peter Sarsgaard is incredible. He's no creepy conman who just wants to seduce a young girl. He wants to actually be her, to take all that freshness and curiosity into himself, to have all that possibility laid out before him. At heart he's all too aware of how badly his life has gone wrong. His business (working for notorious slumlord Peter Rachman) is tawdry, and his marriage and home are shabby. He's deceiving himself as well as Jenny when he spins his dreams and explanations; and he loves to see himself through her eyes--as a worldly, exciting man. Of course he's happy to wait for her to be ready to lose her virginity, of course he's peculiar in bed: sex was never the point. And tie-clipped David can't in reality compete with his more sophisticated and wealthier friend Danny, so he's terrified into rash action when he sees him flirting with Jenny.

Jenny and her mother both know that there's something a little bit wrong with David. Jenny has doubts about David from the moment he makes an asinine, flattering remark to her mother, but puts them aside. If I have one complaint about the movie it's this: to me it's implausible that Jenny would have ditched her A levels, even though I know it's a memoir and she DID ditch her A levels. As played by Mulligan, Jenny is smarter and more perceptive than that. She's someone who'd see no reason to make a choice between university and marriage.

The supporting cast is fabulous. Jenny's bombastic lower middle-class father yearns for his daughter to be clever and confident, able to mix with the `right' people. Caught wrong-footed by the more urbane David, whom he sees as his social superior, he's easily played. "All my life I've been scared," he admits to Jenny in the end, "I didn't want you to be scared."

Jenny's mother is wistful for the days when she knew how to get to St John's, Smith Square; her face and body language are pitch-perfect as she waits up for her daughter after that first date. She's a mother who remembers how it was--and wishes it could still be so. She's both terrified for her daughter and wishes that she was her. She knows David isn't quite right, but she's still charmed by him. And she appears to be a heck of a lot brighter than her husband, but like all the women in this film, has had limited opportunities.

Jenny's naïve but she's no victim. I see that some viewers don't find the story credible. From a modern perspective, especially an American perspective, perhaps it's not. But having grown up in pretty similar circumstances not too many years after Jenny, I found it to almost eerily reflect the times, the persuasions of class, and the desires of a young girl living in them. And having had a very similar conversation with a very similar headmistress, I can assure you that Emma Thompson's character is spot-on.

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Based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, supposedly this script, adapted by novelist Nick Hornby (About a Boy), was one of the great unproduced movies in Britain. Well no more. A winning performance by newcomer Carey Mulligan realizes a complex character in An Education, a fascinating study of growing up quickly in an adult world.

Following some dazzling opening credits, we see a teenage girl, Jenny (Mulligan), who is attending high school in the suburbs of London in 1961. Prodded by her parents to study hard and take cello, they dream of her acceptance to Oxford University and becoming financially secure. A top student, she desperately wants to break out of her routine and, instead, attend concerts, art galleries, and experience more of the world. Her parents feel otherwise. One rainy day, a handsome, older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard) drives up and offers her a lift home. David is a student of life. He attracts and fascinates her, and what starts innocently as an unlikely friendship develops into a deeper relationship. He is adept at charming her parents into letting her exceed her curfew and boundaries, and Jenny gets to go to an art auction, Oxford campus, and in time, even a romantic Paris getaway complete with a sunset by the River Seine.

Despite the overtures of a fellow student, Graham, he is no match for the sophisticated, mature, and apparently wealthy David. Jenny becomes self assured and even insubordinate to her teachers and principal despite their warnings and protestations. She revels in her new life with David and his carefree friends Danny and Helen, and the foursome venture into the night for partying and taking in the highlife. As romance deepens and her defiance of authority and protocol increases, can marriage be far behind, and how will Jenny's parents react?

David is a mystery as are his motives. What does he do for a living, and is he for real? Perhaps his carefree life is not as glamorous as it seems. As Jenny finds out, life can be full of joy and surprises, and one moment she can be master of her own fate and the next instant everything could come shattering down around her. As much as her world has broadened and expanded, she also learns about humility and contrition. Such is the education of a girl learning about herself at a crucial moment in her life.

Director Lone Scherfig does a splendid job of telling a coming of age tale that hits the right notes. What this film does well is to put us inside the head of Jenny. We feel her yearnings and frustrations. We experience her highs and exhilaration at finding a life beyond her home. We also hurt when morality is twisted and she is disappointed and betrayed. That's not just good writing (which it really is); it's a well directed ensemble of talented actors starting with Mulligan. Production values are modest, but the period costumes and background music are infectious and authentic.

Sarsgaard (Kinsey, Jarhead) is quite magnetic as the manipulative David and inflects a convincing British accent. His scenes with Mulligan are affecting and sustain interest. Alfred Molina is good as Jenny's stern father, while Emma Thompson is on too briefly as a proper school principal. Olivia Williams is effective as a teacher who will play a significant role in Jenny's future.

Aside from its portrayal of a teenager, the film depicts the apparently limited options for a graduating female at the time. She either could excel academically and get a job, or she could find a husband who could take care of her. It is interesting how Jenny's parents are motivated by this mode of thinking and how it guides their actions. There is an aspect to the story which borders on statutory laws regarding sex with a girl who is barely of adult age. The storytellers finesse their way around this and focus on the relationship and do a tasteful job in minimizing the lurid possibilities. Subtle hints of racism are folded into the narrative, this being the 1960's.

In the end, it is Carey Mulligan in a star making turn as the idealistic teen who matures ahead of her own time and learns about life the hard way. Love that poster.

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I really enjoyed this. If you don't want to purchase this, I suggest renting on Netflix because there are some interesting deleted scenes, a few my friend and I agreed should have been left in. SPOILERS: There is a good scene with her two girlfriends in a diner after lies are uncovered, and another extended scene with Jenny in front of David's house. Perhaps these scenes were extraneous, but we liked them. Jenny pulled herself together in the end although she asked to repeat her last year of school, she was not allowed to return, what did she have to accomplish since she dropped out? Although you see her studying in her room again, we felt that was handled a bit too neatly and quickly. Her ex-teacher obviously helped her, but how? Perhaps that didn't need elaboration but it seemed too simple, especially with how devastated she was. And, David just walks (drives) away in the end and he's never seen again. Perhaps too, this is an appropriate end for a creepy role. We were also disturbed at how easily her parents allowed her to be whisked away by an older man who was blatantly lying to everyone. Watch Danny's face (David's partner in crime) in many of the scenes very subtle and well-done. His girlfriend (who was so beautiful in "Pride & Prejudice") was also very good (and dim). We loved the music and costumes also.

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Set in 60s London, "An Education" centers on 16-year-old Jenny (Carey Mulligan delivering a finely-nuanced performance) who is preparing for her 'A' Levels for entrance into Oxford University. Jenny plays the cello, has a keen eye for art, and wants to read English at Oxford. Her father Jack (credibly portrayed by Alfred Molina) wishes to see his only child in a prestigious university as a means of elevating their status as a family. A rainy day changes everything as Jenny's path crosses that of a smooth-talking older man, David (Peter Skarsgaard who delivers a compelling performance despite a rather weak English accent). David entices Jenny to take a ride in his coveted Bristol and Jenny finds herself slowly but surely falling for Peter and his sophisticated ways. The pair dine out in fancy restaurants, listen to jazz music in cool clubs, and live the high life together with Peter's friends, Danny (Dominic Cooper, who has also appeared in movies such as Mamma Mia! The Movie (Widescreen) and as James Willoughby in Sense & Sensibility (with Miss Austen Regrets) (BBC TV 2008) and Danny's girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike, who has also appeared in a BBC period drama, Wives and Daughters. Suddenly, the previously sheltered Jenny finds herself being swept off her feet and introduced to a sophisticated, fun new world she had only dreamed of in the past.

Inevitably, the once studious and hardworking Jenny begins to falter as her studies take a backseat to nights out, weekends off in the country, and even a trip to Paris. Her parents fall for David's charm and the social climbing Jack goes as far as to determine that Jenny might as well give up Oxford if she manages to get David to marry her. No one really has a clue as to how David manages to finance his high-flying lifestyle, though Jenny does find out sometime in the movie and begins to see a darker side to David and his life. There are more revelations to come before the movie ends, and the question is: Will Jenny be able to realize her potential? Will her informal "education" procured during her time with David be sufficient for her or is there still a place for formal schooling in her life?

I thought the film was beautifully made the scenic setting, the 60s lifestyle and the myriad themes explored all blend together convincingly to create a truly poignant coming-of-age tale. Carey Mulligan (who first impressed me in a secondary role inMasterpiece Theatre: Northanger Abbey delivers both a delightful and heartbreaking performance as the confident yet ultimately vulnerable young child-woman. The chemistry between Mulligan's Jenny and Skarsgaard's David is credible and powerful one can see that there's a certain neediness in David that is assuaged by being with the young Jenny, and Jenny in turn is intoxicated by the power she wields over David. The rather sensitive issue of sex between a 17-year-old and a much older man is subtly addressed and there are no exploitative or gratuitous scenes to offend anyone's sensibilities (though it probably merits mentioning that the age of consent in Britain is 16).

Final verdict a fine coming-of-age tale set in a time when the sexual revolution and feminism were about to take serious flight.

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