[Review] An Education

It’s hard to go wrong with a screenplay based off a book by Nick Hornby, the man responsible for the novel versions of High Fidelity, About a Boy and Fever Pitch which have all had successful movie adaptations. However, this go around, Hornby himself wrote the screen adaptation.

An Education stars newcomer Carey Mulligan as the young, schoolgirl impressionable Jenny, who, while finishing up her final year of school has a chance meeting with a much older fellow music lover played by Peter Sarsgaard. Even from the beginning moments of their relationship, we know that they will certainly end up sleeping together. Sarsgaard gives a brilliant performance, managing to walk the very precise line between clean cut, world-wise gentleman and what we will soon discover he is -- a cad. Much like Jenny, the audience is lured into liking David by his charm, even though we suspect that he is not all that wonderful under the surface.

The dashing Dominic Cooper of History Boys fame, as Danny and Rosamond Pike as Helen, Danny's vapid girlfriend round out an extraordinary, if subtle, main cast.

What unfolds in front of the viewer is a gorgeous period piece that does justice to the juxtaposition between the excitement and confusion of adolescence. Jenny is swept from her lower-middle class family, into David's world of lavish parties, art auctions and concerts, leaving behind her banal, if well-meaning parents and Graham, a dopey but perfectly nice boy her own age, to pursue this new lifestyle. Jenny’s duller than dull school world is contrasted with her vibrant, colorful life with David. In his world she can speak French, smoke and talk about her love for Pre-Raphaelite painters. For her age, Jenny is a sophisticated girl - and unlike her parents, David and his friends understand her.

David plays Jenny’s father like a cheap deck of cards, lying and charming his way into taking Jenny wherever he likes.

Things begin to go awry when Helen gives Jenny a nightie before the group takes a trip and is surprised to find out that Jenny has not slept with David yet. But she is not surprised in an expected sort of way. She is surprised because of prior knowledge, precedent which the audience can read but she does not share with Jenny. We can no longer live in the happy delusion that Jenny is special to David. No. This has happened before. Jenny is not his first girl. To his credit, David does not force himself on Jenny, and approves of Jenny's resolve to stay a virgin till she is seventeen. However, in perhaps the most disturbing scene of the film, he asks to see her breasts. After she shows him, he thanks her, pulls the straps back up on her nightie and buries his head against her neck. There is something incredibly creepy about this moment as David makes a definitive step towards not just being a nice man, but a man who wants something from Jenny.

Jenny soon discovers that David and Danny steal things and sell properties in less than moral ways to turn a profit, and she is reluctant to remain in their world. But, when David explains that the money for restaurants and concerts doesn’t grow on trees, the similar shouts from Jenny's father earlier in the film ring in her ears and she decides she will stay. A trip to Paris strengthens their relationship, at least it evens out their complicity in it. Jenny sleeps with David and she seems happy to do so. Jenny no longer seems unaware of what David wants. She has matured.

Once back in England, Danny begins to express a concern for Jenny. At a club, he dances with her and there is a clear attraction between them. One gets the feeling that Danny could actually love and appreciate her - and deserves her a great deal more than David does - but being David's friend, he does nothing about it. David and Helen can only watch as they are given a dose of reality. David immediately asks Jenny to marry him – she gives him no definitive answer. She tells him he is "very sweet", as if she is patting him on the head. Their roles are completely reversed. In that moment, Jenny seems more like the adult than David.

Jenny discovers all too late - after dropping out of school - that David is already married. Her parents, who were just as seduced by David as Jenny are equally as pained to discover that their daughter's meal ticket is a liar. Jenny's mother seems the kind of woman who could have loved Jenny’s life with David when she was younger, but chose to marry and settle. Her father is a good man who only wants the best for his daughter. Jenny is denied re-acceptance to school. She visits her teacher at her home and studies privately, presumably under her tutelage. Jenny has learned something thanks to her time with David. She realizes that there are no shortcuts in life. She eventually attends Oxford and tries to lead a normal life for a girl her age.

Bottom Line: An Education is an exquisite, intelligent, beautiful, thought-provoking film with a brilliant cast. If it fails at all, it fails only in regard to not moving the audience enough emotionally. Because David, Danny and Helen exist in such a fabricated, controlled world, all the emotions tend to feel a little stunted or subdued. But then again, perhaps one could argue that that was intentional on the part of Hornby, as Jenny is stunting herself emotionally by staying with David’s crowd.

Grade: A-