At The Movies: An Education

Published by Jenny on October 23rd, 2009

An Education

The time periods before a huge change ranging from before the Civil War or Jerusalem, before the birth of Christ continues to be fascinating to mankind.

However, the early 1960s prove to be the centre of attention during our time. The 60s resembled the 50s than any of the massive cultural changes that were about to happen.

An Education is a film about life in England after the war but before the Beatles where none of the characters can even comprehend the change that’s to come.

The main character Jenny, played by Carey Mulligan, is a smart 16-year-old who thinks she understands what the world has to show her. She hopes for a good life relying on going to Oxford and finding her matching husband. She lives in a tiny house with her middle class, money obsessed parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour). Jenny, like many other small-town girls, dreams to study great art and culture and actually live them too.

David then appears into the scene as Peter Sarsgaard who is a handsome older man who offers jenny a car ride once. He can soon be seen sweet-talking her parents to allow her to join him at nightclubs, performances, and weekend trips.

David was always with his friend Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny’s beautiful girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike). David adores Jenny but doesn’t take advantage of her and soon Jenny’s parents have relied on David, instead of Oxford, to secure Jenny’s future.

The lack of many twists in An Education’s plot does not make it lame as it can allow the audience to be with Jenny as she goes through a roller coaster of emotions when you have the brain of an adult but no sense to understand how things should unfold.

Mulligan has been a wonder to be Jenny as she has transformed from a child star to an adult performer. Mulligan is graced by a surrounding talent from Molina to Emma Thompson to Sally Hawkins but her performance guides the film and lifts it from something pleasant into an amazing revelation.

It’s a good story about how women grow up and become part of a time period especially that An Education’s time period is a rare one.

The surprising emotional honesty makes it worth watching.

In cinemas from 30th October 2009.

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