An Education

An Education is a story of a 16-year old Jenny(Carey Mulligan) who's studying hard at school, trying to make her way to Oxford. Her life changes completely when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man twice her age.

Roger Ebert once said "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." Based on the memoirs of Lynn Barber, the story of An Education certainly isn't the freshest story and it does hit all the predictable notes you would expect it to.

But it's the how that makes the movie very special. Nick Hornby has crafted Barber's memoirs into a very lively script. Not having read Barber's book myself, I can't say how much Hornby has changed from the memoirs, but nevertheless everything in the movie feels real and the characters in it are very genuine.

Speaking of characters, Carey Mulligan portrays Jenny perfectly, getting swept into the web of an older man who promises her the world. Mulligan is able to bring the right dose of naivety and youth to the role and you really feel you see the character grow older (and somewhat wiser) as the movie goes on. All the awards received for this role are very well deserved.

And Peter Sarsgaard's David makes it very believable that Jenny would fall for him. He's able to talk anyone into anything, he's that kind of a suave charmer that even on the audience side, people were getting a bit flustered by him. And of course when the other shoe drops, it's all the more heartbreaking, because you really wanted to things turn out well for them.

All the supporting actors do a terrific job, especially Alfred Molina as Jenny's father. Only person that I didn't really like in the movie was Emma Thompson's headmistress, who seemed to be a bit of a caricature, but luckily her time in the movie was quite limited.

Director Lone Scherfig creates a very believable picture of a small-town England in the 60's and the whole movie is full of life and wit. Extremely enjoyable movie, worth seeing. My score 8/10.