An Education (Scherfig, 2009)

[fizz]

The swinging 60's is the backdrop of this gorgeously filmed, passionately told love story. The screenplay is credited to Nick Hornby - the first he has ever written (his name appears on other notable films, but those were based on his books). Hornby's influence on the film is obvious. It brushes with the music of the era, the art scene etc - the general literati adds pizzazz to a story that would otherwise have seemed dull, ordinary or even tiring.

The films drive is based on a predicament. Does Jenny drop out from her pursuit of trying to get into Oxford just because she has found the perfect man who will now be able to take care of her? Her heart tells her to - what else could a girl ask for from a rich, flamboyant and engagingly charming man, even if he's a lot older and the parents aren't entirely sure. That the parents are equally won over eventually is surprising for both us and Jenny. Alfred Molina's Jack, the understanding, frustrated father, provides the pathos of the film. There is a heartbreaking scene towards the end, when he confesses to his daughter that he figured out something was not right quite early on, and only someone who is able to deliver lines with the earnestness of Molina can carry this scene off so well.

The screenplay boldly explores the hypocrisy of being a parent - Jack wants Jenny to study and not spend time on her Cello or boys, but when he meets David, he too is smitten by the possibilities - but the script also delves into the joys and frustrations of being a child who does not want to conform because, well, who does. David, the older, richer man, of course hides a secret - nothing this perfect could ever be true or really last. The end is tidy, perhaps a bit too much, but by then, both the films charms and Jenny's too, have completely won us over.

Rating: 4/5

[animatedude]

any idea if this is getting a theatrical release in the gulf?

[fizz]

The release dates till March 31st make no mention of it, haven't seen any posters of it in the cinemas either. Don't expect it will find much love here. If the two leads were Kate Hudson and Matthew Mcconaughey, maybe then.

[madali]

An Education (Scherfig, 2009)
IMDB Link

Nick Hornby has always been the kind of author whose books have been decent adaptations, a rarity in cinema. The adaptation of his “High Fidelity” was amazing and on my list (of what, I’m not sure, but on some List of some category to decide later) and to my shock and surprise, I liked both “About a Boy” and “Fever Pitch”, considering the former had Hugh Grant and the latter Drew Barrymore, not exactly actors that draw me to the cinema.

“An Education” has, thankfully, no such rom-com actor to be a barrier to it for me. It is early 60s in England and Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a smart, sixteen year old girl in high school who is smart, articulate, and is trying to get into Oxford. One day she meets a charming older man who befriends and seduces her, and gains both the trust of her and her family. Don’t worry, this older man, David (Peter Sarsgaard), is not going to kidnap her and sell her to sex slavery. It is well-handled love affair, understanding why Jenny falls for him, understanding why David falls for her, and understanding why the family allows it. Jenny is smart, David is charming, and the family, while protective, are simple and want the best for Jenny.

The “An Education” in the title, I guess, refers to Jenny’s education from this relationship. She is at a confusing stage in her life and cannot understand the benefits of her normal school education when it seems that outside the life she had experienced, there is a new, exciting world of concerts and Jazz bars and Paris.

Earlier in my review, when I mentioned Jenny, I put Carey Mulligan in the brackets. Try to remember that name if you can, because she really MAKES the film. She is lovely in the film, both smart and clever, has a passion for life, and her laugh is infectious. It is very easy to understand why an older man wants someone like a character played by Mulligan. She makes her into someone that is LIVELY and full of LIFE, something adulthood slowly erodes away.

4/5

[ayaa1977]

An Education was shoehorned to the newly expanded Oscar nomination list, and despite the fact it didn't get a commercial success, it absolutely charmed everyone who had seen it. After watching the film I can see why, it is a beautiful little film, elegant and smart. That Carey Mulligan deserves all the praises she has been receiving and more, she is just luminous, elegant, smart, full of life, and you can't help it not to fall in love with her. I would really love to see her win the Oscar this year. Peter Sarsgaard in the other hand was amazing as the charming sleaze-ball. This film rise or fall on those two, and since we established how great she was, so what's left is him, if you don't buy him as the man who can con the smart Jenny, her parents, and about everyone else, then the film would fall flat, lucky us he is great, not only he is convincing, you kinda feel for him and believe his feelings toward her. The rest of the cast is great too, Molina, Olivia Williams and Doiminc Cooper in particular were really good. Bottom line, don't miss this amazing film which gets 4/5 from me.

[kaytee]

Carey Mulligan in the movie would have turned out to be what Rosamund Pike was if she would have continued the path with the brilliant Sarsgaard. Molina has the intensity and the care that a father would normally have for his kids. The scene that Fizz mentions above was heartfelt, sincere and geniune something that he must have had with his kids.

[shariqq]

Released in Cinema today. Might just be my weekend watch.

[X.]

One of my dreams is to have sex with Rosamund Pike.

[ayaa1977]

The way she was uglied up in Surrogate ruined her for me. 

[animatedude]

anyone seen it on the big screen? was it censored?

[kaytee]

I don't remember it having anything that needs to be censored.

[fizz]

Yup, it should be censor proof as Kaytee says (though there is an implied, off the screen nudity scene where a woman bears it all, though we only see her from the back, bottoms up).

[animatedude]

propaganda.

it's obviously well acted and everything but what's the moral lesson of the movie? wait wait let's be clear about this...

you mean it's wrong to be a rebel and to go to Paris drinking and having fun leaving school all behind?

you mean it's wrong to be "boring" and "dead" and live in a "dead" country going through books day after day without having any fun?

but you mean it's the right thing is to finish school then go to college where you actually meet guys and so on?

why is that? why does it have to be in this sequence? i don't understand why our societies are brainwashed to think that in order to be a "good" or "successful" person you have to go through this sequence.

the right thing to do is to do what suits you and suits your needs as a person,thank you very much.

[ayaa1977]

That rambling on your soapbox is cute and everything but it is not really from this world we live in. The reality which was even the more essential back then in the 60's because Europe came out of the war pretty banged up and the surest and best way to have a decent life is by being well educated. Even now 50 years later tell me a way for a person to succeed in achieving his or her goals without having an education of some sort. Following your dream doesn't mean going around drinking and sleeping with random people. This charming man that she and her family are too infatuated with turns out to be a conman. That what he does for living and what he did to lure her. So I would say the lesson is a realistic one, not that it is really important for the film to have a "lesson" to be good and effective

[animatedude]

That rambling on your soapbox is cute and everything but it is not really from this world we live in. The reality which was even the more essential back then in the 60's because Europe came out of the war pretty banged up and the surest and best way to have a decent life is by being well educated. Even now 50 years later tell me a way for a person to succeed in achieving his or her goals without having an education of some sort. Following your dream doesn't mean going around drinking and sleeping with random people. This charming man that she and her family are too infatuated with turns out to be a conman. That what he does for living and what he did to lure her. So I would say the lesson is a realistic one, not that it is really important for the film to have a "lesson" to be good and effective

huh?! what's success to you? as much as i make fun of the uneducated peeps we have at work for being promoted and everything i have always defended ppl who didn't choose to go to college even when i was a college kid..

getting education at schools is good but not for everyone.as much as i'm proud of myself to be graduated from KFUPM which is according to Time magazine is the best University in the middle east or something i look at myself in the mirror when i graduated and i said to myself what a big waste of time...

i think she should have lost her virginity when she was 16 with the shy boy at school then fled to Paris..