Movie Review - An Education

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Set in 1961 England, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is 16-year old sailing through a high priced boarding school with ease.  Singularly focused on her studies, she is on pace on to be accepted to Oxford when she meets a boy.  Well, a boy wouldn’t be so much of a problem.  Jenny meets a man named David (Peter Sarsgaard).  David is in his early 30s, wealthy and particularly suave.  An Education tells the story of their courtship.  Jenny is immediately taken with David as he whisks her into his world of erudite intelligentsia.  He takes to her to cool jazz clubs, classical music concerts and privileged art auctions.  She’s as besotted with his lifestyle as she is with him, though she’s too young to make the distinction.  Mistaking his money and age for sophistication, she lacks the confidence to see that she’s infinitely more cultivated than his crowd.

An Education is a simple tale told wonderfully.  It draws us into its world in much the same way that David draws in Jenny.  It beautifully recreates ‘60s England, from trendy nightclubs to middle class residences.  Mulligan gives an award-worthy performance as does Sarsgaard. 

Buoyed by strong performances from Sarsgaard, Mulligan and Alfred Molina (as Jack, Jenny’s father), the film is interesting in that its Jenny’s point of view in which the story is firmly ensconced.  While the plot obviously has shades of Lolita (with a touch of Pygmalion) it’s told (largely) with a light and airy tone.  Molina is strong as a father who wants the best for his daughter, even if his ideas are a bit antiquated.  Sarsgaard is masterful as man who might or might not be a predator.  He walks that line between creepy and charming, dangerous and exciting, never fully landing on one or the other until just the right moment.  And Mulligan, as Jenny, is enchanting enough to believe that an older man could be interested in her as more than just a plaything.  She’s smart, funny, educated and, lest we forget, beautiful.  And while she is too young for him, it’s “just barely” (she’ll be graduating soon).  This, combined with the fact that film takes place in era that’s (perceived) as more innocent, makes it easier to think that this just might be the exception to the rule.  After all, Jenny’s mother is clearly smitten with David and her father is impressed, in spite of himself, with just how urbane her daughter’s suitor is.

It’s easy to read the above as the salacious wish-fulfillment of a rapidly-approaching middle age man.  But it’s precisely this element of the film that allows it to rise above the level of an After School Special.  Even as we watch all parties involved make decisions that we find questionable, we never lose sight of why they’re making such decisions.  Every character has a unique motivation that allows them to permit something concrete that they would never tolerate in the abstract. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Lolita and 1 being Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story, An Education gets an 8.

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