Film File - An Education

A fair starting point for 'An Education' would be those often quoted lines of poet Philip Larkin: "Sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three, Between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first LP." The period in which this adaptation of writer Lynn Barber's memoir is set is 1961 - that time just before the great cultural revolution which would see a new generation turn up the volume of their music and turn down the barriers of permissiveness. Britain hadn't actually started swinging in 1961. "Every time people talk about the '60s, I want to scream," recalls Barber. "The '60s didn't actually start until around '63 or '64. It was still pretty drab before that." In the midst of this dreary Britain, 16-year-old Twickenham schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan), is poised on the brink of womanhood and dreaming of sophistication in Parisian cafes while humming along to the love songs of Juliette Greco. In short, a teenager anxious to cast off her dreary adolescent routine and get into some serious bohemian activity involving boys and fine wines. Meanwhile, she continues as a good student dreaming of getting into Oxford University and the adult joys she's convinced await her. On a rainy day no different to all the others, her suburban life is upended by the chance arrival of a suitor, the older 30-ish David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, and just what she thinks she needs, Jenny is smitten and dumps her stammering schoolboy admirer, Graham (Matthew Beard). Even with the age gap, David manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour) and effortlessly overcomes any objections about his age or suitability. In jig time, Jenny is introduced to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers in the company of David's business partner, Danny (Domnic Cooper), and Danny's girlfriend, the beautiful Helen (Rosamund Pike). Jenny's traditional education is quickly replaced with a more worldly version - this time consisting of sports cars, art auctions and hanging out in smokey clubs. Using her love of Oxford, David whisks her away to the famous institution on the pretext of an introduction to CS Lewis. Later on, using his practiced mixture of flattery, he persuades Jenny's parents to allow him to take their only daughter to Paris for her 17th birthday. David suggests that his 'Aunt Helen' will once again act as a chaperone. Jack and Marjorie do not know that Jenny has chosen the date and place to lose her virginity. While Jenny becomes the envy of school, her headmistress (Emma Thompson) and English teacher Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams), worry that their prize pupil seems determined to throw away her certain chance of higher education. Just as the family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Adapted by Nick Hornby from Barber's brief memoir, 'An Education' is an engrossing film, full of sharp dialogue and with a great sense of period detail. Mulligan, as Jenny, owns the show, managing to do more with a facial expression than many actresses could with 20 lines - clearly a woman with a big future in front of her. One slight reservation is the fact that she's 23 - a creature that the camera loves, certainly - but perhaps slightly too old for the role of a 16-year old. Her chemistry with Peter Sasgaard is convincing, but sometimes overshadowed by his sharp and watchable mixture of breezy bon vivant and sly old goat intent on adding a young lamb to his bedpost. All the rest are seasoned players from Molina to Pike and Cooper, the latter two excellent as the worldly and jaded pair who herald the cultural change that's just around the corner. Emma Thompson's role is too small to enable her talents to shine, but Olivia Williams as the young teacher delivers a subtle and nuanced portrait of the kind of educational concern one would wish existed in all schools. 'An Education' is the same kind of film as 'Notes On A Scandal', a thoroughly English piece of entertainment where good acting and a well-written story deliver a thoughtful experience.