Henry Saw: An Education

The first good movie of the "Oscar" season...


I had gone on a pretty bad run with movies recently. While I was at least kind of intrigued by Antichrist, nothing else that I had seen for the last two months could even be called interesting, much less good. With An Education, the new coming of age tale by writer Nick Hornby and director Lone Scherfig, we finally have a smart film made by, and for, thinking adults. While An Education is not flawless, it is easily one of the two best dramas (along with The Hurt Locker) that I've seen this year, and I cannot recommend it more when compared to what else is out in theaters at the moment.

Set in the early 1960's, An Education follows a brilliant 16 year old girl named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) who's parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) are obsessed with her getting into Oxford University. One day, after cello rehearsal, she meets a 30-something year old man named David (Peter Sarsgaard) who offers her a ride home. A romance soon follows as Jenny is wooed by David's fancy lifestyle and posh friends (Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike) and David, in turn, is able to convince Jenny's parents that he is a good influence on their daughter.

Jenny is soon forced to choose between pursuing her education, represented by her English teacher Olivia Williams (the teacher from Rushmore) and her school's headmaster played by Emma Thompson, and the opportunity to fulfill her lifelong dreams of nights in music clubs and weekends in Paris with David.



The film's greatest strength is its incredible cast. Everyone in this movie is great. The standout, perhaps because she's the least known performer in the film, is Carey Mulligan. She looks a little like Larisa Oleynik or Audrey Tautou but has a glow and warmth that neither of them possess. Which isn't to say that she's too sunny, when she needs to sell being mad or upset she nails it, but she's always a pleasure to watch on screen. I also appreciate how Mulligan, and Hornby's script, play the character. She's not some callow faun who's innocence is burst by David. Jenny is a smart girl who knows that she's attractive. She has smoked a cigarette before and she has flirted with boys. While she feels as though she has never experienced anything, and David does certainly take advantage of her, she's not a blind child led astray into sin.

Peter Sarsgaard manages to sell both his smarmy character and the English accent. His part actually has a lot of little quirks to it (his job, his behavior in the bedroom) and Sarsgaard makes the whole thing awkwardly realistic. Alfred Molina is always a welcome addition to any movie. He brings the right amount of humor, stupidity, and love to his part. Also worth mentioning are Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike as David's high society friends. Cooper has a casual way of playing every scene he's in, while having some kind of hard to describe inner decency, and he's probably the most charming person in the movie after Mulligan. Pike is asked to play the flighty blond, and to be the butt of a lot of jokes, but she never plays it too broad. Instead we can all see someone we know in Pike's performance.



It's a very clever script, at times I found myself just nodding with a sharp line of dialogue or plot reveal, but sometimes it is a little too smart for its own good. It also has a small problem in the third act, I actually don't know if Hornby really knew how to end it, and I really could have done without the closing voice-over.

Scherfig's direction is good if not remarkable. Some shots are fairly well composed but I don't think it is any better than the direction found in an above average Mad Men episode. The score is also a bit off. Ben pointed it out to me but the score is never quite sure of what mood to take or whose perspective to underline.



This is not a groundbreaking film, It has less to say about statutory rape than Notes on a Scandal did, and there is nothing original about the way they play the coming of age angle, but there's something refreshing about the whole movie. Maybe it is because there have been so few intelligent films this year. Maybe its because it is a look at an era and place we don't see too often (even with Mad Men on the air). Maybe it is because it is not that ambitious and never wavers from the film it should be. Most likely it is because of Carey Mulligan, and Peter Sarsgaard, and Cooper, and Pike, and Molina, and Williams and Thompson...and the lines that Hornby gives them. It is always nice to watch great actors delivering good lines. And that's what An Education has to offer.

I recommend this film to pretty much everybody and I actually think almost everyone I know will get something slightly different out of it. Either way, whichever characters, or whatever messages and themes resonate most with them, I'm confident they will enjoy the film. I definitely did.

Grade: A- (Ben tried to talk me into a B+ last night...the score and the pervy nature of the movie bothered him...but the movie sat really well with me)

Best Scene: Jenny's first night out with David and his friends.


P.S.: For another good (and gushing) review - Check out Filmspotting's podcast