Though it fails to answer all of the questions that it raises, it is still an occasionally romantic picture and also a very funny one too

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In the early 1960's a sixteen-year-old school girl named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is bored with her extremely strict schooling life and feels devoid of any fun. She is surrounded by incompetent males, including her uptight father (Alfred Molina) and also a nervous boy named Graham (Matthew Beard) who likes her. One afternoon Jenny is walking home from school in a downpour. She is given a ride home by David (Peter Sarsgaard), who sees her cello case and tells her that he is a lover of music. With this common interest, they both take an immediate liking to each other. David suggests his intentions by leaving flowers outside Jenny's house and by also inviting her out with his friends as well. Despite their age difference, they start a romantic relationship.

It is easy to see screenwriter Nick Hornby's attraction to this project, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber. The previous film Hornby wrote was About a Boy and while An Education is not in the same league as that film, there are certainly similarities between the stories. This is also about an older man who takes a much younger child under his wing to show them a better life. For much of its length, the film is a highly idealised view of the freedom of the 1960's. Though at times it may seem too picturesque and sweet, this is precisely the point of the film in reflecting the way that Jenny is entirely wrapped into her new found freedom and lifestyle. From jazzy nightclubs, country sides and swanky apartments, this is a glamorous film at times, even more so when actress Carey Mulligan begins to look like Audrey Hepburn. The brief scenes in Paris are particularly romantic too.

For many of its qualities however, the film is problematic because of the subjectivity towards Barber's memoir. The dominance of Jenny's perspective throughout the film ensures that the audience is never exposed to as much detail about David's character as we would like. In a very different role to the one he played in Garden State, Peter Saarsgard is quite charming. Yet by the end of the film, despite some revelations such as his occupation, we are left questioning his actions and his interest in Jenny, beyond a merely perverted nature. For Jenny though, the film's ending ties up her mistakes and grief extremely quickly and neatly, without a great deal of reflection. Regardless, Cary Mulligan is lovely as Jenny, a radiant and cultured girl, looking for enjoyment, who falls entirely ahead of herself. By surrounding Jenny with a strict and frustrated person like her father, along with the bumbling Graham, the need for a strong and complete male in her life, like David, seems vital for her. Alfred Molina is particularly good as Jenny's neurotic father and he has some of the film's funnier moments.

The film lightly touches on the subtext of the freedom that women were denied in this period. Jenny is told by her headmistress that if she is found to have lost her virginity then she will not be wanted at the school, while there is also suggestion that if she gets married she will not need an education at Oxford. Though these dilemmas and issues are not particularly explored to any great extent or depth, they are still relatively interesting to look back on now.

An Education is quite a small British film and one that will be a minor entry into the future career of Carey Mulligan. Its message is a simple one in that the best things in life are not always around the corner but have to be worked for and earned for the greatest fulfilment. Though it fails to answer all of the questions that it raises, it is still an occasionally romantic picture and also a very funny one too.

score 7/10

Likes_Ninjas90 28 September 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2133749/