An Education – “I Get It”

Screenplay by Nick Hornby
Directed by Lone Scherfig

Based on the memoir by Lynn Barber but distinctly Nick Hornby-like in execution, ‘An Education’ is a coming of age story as seen a thousand times with a little extra charm. Hornby’s script has his usual touches; a character learning about love, communicating passions through music, and outrageous characters that still feel grounded in reality. As usual, the voice is distinctly English. A young girl living in the London suburb of Twickenham, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a bright sixteen year-old who is being pushed by her overbearing father to make the grade for Oxford College. She is obsessed with French culture and music. One day while waiting for a bus she meets a charming older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard), who seems to hold the key to getting the way of life she always wanted potentially at the risk of losing Oxford in the process.

The film’s setting is a pre-Beatles explosion 1964 England (surprisingly there is virtually no rock n’ roll in the film). Jenny is the type of girl who only a few years later would be exploring her options as a young woman looking to rebel in different ways. Carey Mulligan handles Jenny with wit and just the right amount of adorability. We understand why David pursues her, and why she in turn would contemplate giving up everything she has worked for to be with him. It is rare to see a “teen film” where the main character seems to have such a head on her shoulders. Yet, as soon as she sees a shortcut for what she ultimately wants, she takes it, showing how young and naïve she really is. She’s not above showing off to those around her, giving her the superiority that only good grades had afforded her up until now. But now with love and culture in her life she feels she is even greater than her headmistress or teachers, who all seem to be single intellectuals breeding Jenny to become another of their own ilk. Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams) especially is a reflection of where Jenny sees herself heading if she takes the path written for her by the adults in her life.

Jenny’s father Jack, played by Alfred Molina, gives one of his best performances in a career of great work. Like his unforgettable cameo in Boogie Nights, Jack is a scene stealer, who cares more about Jenny and Oxford than seemingly anything else in the world. He’s the type of father who complains of not hearing enough reading coming from Jenny’s room. He dominates every scene he is in until David comes along and works his magic, turning the pit-bull into more of a retriever. Special mention must also be made of Rosamund Pike as David’s friend Helen. She is the antithesis of Jenny in almost every conceivable way but has a good natured charm. Pike’s blank stare when Helen just doesn’t understand the culture and art that David is exposing Jenny to and, along with Jack, is one of the comedic highlights of the film.

David is a bit of a mystery. He drives a great sports car, enjoys going out to clubs with friends, and generally has money to spend. He is charming and can talk himself in or out of virtually any situation. We never see him outside the context of either his friends or his car. A sly observer could see from the beginning that it all doesn’t quite add up and it should come as a surprise to no one that he ends up being a bit of a con man. Sarsgaard plays him with a combination of slyness and subtle desperation. He isn’t played like some stunted man-child going for a girl half his age but comes across as a mature person genuinely enamored by Jenny, herself mature for her age, from the start.

Unfortunately, the film virtually falls to pieces in the final twenty minutes or so. The relationship between Jenny and David had been on such an upward spike that you know it has to come down somehow, but the film just dashes everything. Without spoiling too much let’s just say that David is out of the picture at a certain point, and we never get a real resolution with him after the fact. What’s worse is that the film decides at this point to launch into a very stereotypical “working hard” montage that is dull and predictable. They could have just as easily ended it with Jenny triumphantly jogging to the top of the steps at Oxford raising her fists in the air and it wouldn’t have been any more ridiculous. The con that resolves Jenny and David’s relationship ends up duping us as an audience as well as it did the ultimately naïve sixteen year-old.


*** Three Stars – Take it or leave it

An Education is still playing in select theaters.