An Education Review

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 , Posted by Should I See It at 7:06 PM

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Film: An Education
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sargsaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, and Emma Thompson.
Plot: A coming of age story of sixteen year old British school girl Jenny, in 1960s suburban London, who takes up with David, a man twice her age, who shows her the ways of the world.


I went to see An Education for one reason, and it is the same reason I watch Mad Men: The Clothes. The late fifties - early sixties was definitely a high point in fashion.

Oh, I know, An Education is getting a lot of nominations and critical praise, but I always take that with a grain of salt. Awards only mean you have a good campaign. I knew, regardless of what the film would be like, that the clothes would be good.

And I was right. The period detail in An Education is exquisite. I love the contrast between the mundane suburban London with the high fashion of David’s social whirlwind of fine dining and great music.

But actually, the rest of An Education is exquisite too.



As Jenny, Carey Mulligan is luminous. She has a wonderful Audrey Hepburn quality about her, but thankfully does not have that annoying affected way of speaking. Her butterfly like transformation in discovering a world of life and culture beyond her stilted British girls school and home actually warrants a use of the ‘star is born’ cliché.

Also excellent is Peter Sarsgaard as David. He exudes an easy British charm and charisma, but there is always the hint of something darker lurking beneath the surface. It is criminal that Sarsgaard has been left off so many best actor nomination lists.



As Jenny’s father, Alfred Molina shines. Cara Seymour as Jenny’s mother is solid, but doesn’t have the same connection with Mulligan that Molina and Sarsgaard do. It wasn’t until about twenty minutes into the film where Jenny addresses her as ‘mum’ that I realised she was Jenny’s mother and not her step mother.

One thing the film does not adequately address is the unsettling nature of David’s relationship with school girl Jenny, particularly when it enters sexual territory. The actions of Jenny’s parents also confound me. Her mother, at least, has an inkling of the possibility of a sexual relationship between Jenny and David, yet does nothing. I find it hard to fathom that David’s charm alone would cause them to bend/break/ignore (whatever you want to say) their staunch 1950s principles and let Jenny ‘take up’ with David.



The ‘education’ in question is both figurative and literal. The figurative: Jenny learns about the world and her place in it, but the more interesting one to dissect is in fact the literal education: her schooling. The film opens with images of female students learning deportment, cooking and sewing skills, effectively painting the pre feminist movement ideology on education for women.

Jenny's dream is to read English at Oxford University. yet as her figurative education begins to affect her literal one Jenny begins to reasses the role of education for women. At school at least, she is surrounded by 'educated' women, all of whom are unhappy. Jenny is told, without any fanfare, her options are marriage or teaching or the social service. This decision (while underlying most of the fim) makes the final act all that more interesting.

It's almost as if the film seems to recognise that Jenny would bloom with opportunites made availabl buy the social change that is looming just around the corner.

An Education is a well rounded film, it quietly draws you in to Jenny’s coming of age story. Definitely my favourite of the awards season.


Should I See It?



Absolutely, if only to see the performance that will make Carey Mulligan a star.




An Education Official Site here.