AN EDUCATION (2009)

Posted by Daniel Metz

What if the romance in Manhattan was earnest? Might it take the perspective of Tracy, the charming and precocious high school girl? Might the funny bits be played for sincere melodrama? Might the scene where the older man picks up the girl after school be romantic and slightly creepy rather than hilarious?

I found the answer to be yes to all of these questions when I saw An Education, the British period piece about a 1961 school girl in London as written by Nick Hornby from the memoir by Lynn Barber. The film is a delightful, if fluffy, tale of a girl who gets herself involved with a charming big spender. He even proposes marriage, and they are set to be married by the end of act 2.

A truly great scene marked by the sexual energy of this girl, who could be Bardot if she wanted to be.

But wait! He’s already married, and is just having an affair with this 16 year old girl (she turns 17 through the picture). Oh, how disappointing. Obviously, there are many shades of Woody’s 1978 film about the city that never sleeps. Both men impress the girls by treating them like adults, allowing them escape from the dreadful boys that are their contemporaries; key scenes involve them sitting around a table, enjoying the company of adults and pantomiming maturity. In this film we are given the perspective of the girl, though, so we don’t get to hear the sneering of Woody’s friends.

The very beautiful lead in a medium close-up; look at the grace.

This time, however, the remarkable Mariel Hemingway is outdone by Carey Mulligan, a young and beautiful Brit with a promising career (I hope) in acting. She actually transforms through the film into womanhood, a feat that happens about once a decade. Mulligan’s performance cannot be praised enough. She is a Lolita to beat all Lolitas, and she does it with class.

Attention should also be paid to the supporting cast, including Peter Sarsgaard as the seducer, Alfred Molina as her father, and Olivia Williams (yes, Miss Cross from Rushmore) as the schoolmarm who cares.

You can't really see it, but that car is pretty cool; the color scheme, too, is remarkable in this film

The setting, too, is dreamy. 1961 London, and a stop off to Paris, is as romantic as you can get. The cars, the suits, the restaurants, the hairdos, the hats. All great. If only we didn’t love history so much…