Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Life is hard when you're sixteen and smarter than most of the people around you, especially when those people include your parents. You end up restless and bored much of the time and that, in combination with hormones, can cause you to sometimes do some very, very stupid things.
That's the situation Jenny (Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan, best known to me from her role as Sally Sparrow), is in in An Education, the Oscar-nominated movie from director Lone Scherfig and writer Nick Hornby (known for such works as About a Boy. Watch it and realize that pudgy little boy grew up to be, oh, quite lovely). She's very much fed up with her life and when she meets an older man, David (played by the always reliable Peter Sarsgaard), who gives her the respect and attention no one else does.
From the start it's pretty clear what David wants from her, and it's quite clear Jenny is at least somewhat aware of this. She seems to be willing to go along with that in return for the gifts, the activities and a chance to be around people who are more "her sort".
David is a charming fellow, even able to get Jenny's parents to accept him and allow her to do things like accompany him to Oxford or Paris. Her father (played by the always reliable Alfred Molina), appears to be completely snowed. Her mother less so, though she's still willing to let her daughter go off with this man in his 30's.
David's charms are somewhat undone when Jenny finds out the various ways he makes a living, which include, but are not limited to, stealing valuable art from old women. Surprisingly, she's willing to go along with this, but eventually finds out something even more dark and unpleasant about David.
The film is intelligent and entertaining and paints David in a surprisingly sympathetic light until towards the very end. I say "surprisingly" because do let's remember Jenny is a minor and what he does with her is what's described as "statutory rape" in many places and is even called "rape of a child" in others. Of course this fact isn't really addressed, but it was always there in the back of my mind.
I also found the character of Jenny to be delightful! Very smart, very charismatic, but also vulnerable and not quite as world-weary as she likes to think of herself as being. Her character, and indeed the entire story, is based on a memoir by journalist Lynn Barber. If there's more about Barber's life that she can turn into stories, I'd enjoy that. I'd like to see Jenny again.
It's somewhat hard to classify this movie. It's not a comedy, it's not a drama. It's certainly not a romantic comedy. It probably fits into that tired non-genre genre of "coming of age". I think I'll settle for just calling it "very good" and leave it at that.
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EDUCATION - DVD Movie
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