Movie review: An Education

Reviewed by Gerti

In contrast to the 2014 Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight”, comes this 2010 film called “An Education” by director Lone Scherfig. The movies have a lot in common – they both star lovely young actresses who fall for witty older men. But while the Woody Allen flick comes off as mostly charming, “An Education” takes us on a creepy journey of Lolita-esque proportions which ends badly for the main character Jenny, played convincingly by the brilliant Carey Mulligan.

“An Education” takes place in 1960s Britain, and begins with middle-class school girl Jenny getting a rainy day car ride from a dashing man named David, played with slimy conviction by Peter Sarsgaard. The two engage in some witty banter, and slowly but surely, David draws Jenny into his world of upper-class diversions, first taking her out to a show with his friends. The disparity between Jenny’s school girl attire at the concert and that of David’s pal’s girlfriend is pathetic. Jenny looks (and is) utterly out of place. But gradually, the older girl helps her out with smashing clothes & a different, more mature hair style. Soon Jenny is making overnight trips with David, whose silky charms convince her parents that this June/December relationship is not somehow wrong.

The director allows the viewers, and Jenny, to see beneath David’s shiny façade, and the sense of unease about their romance begins to grow. David lies to her parents about knowing CS Lewis, he lies about having gone to Oxford (which Jenny hopes to attend), and of course, he lies to her about being unmarried. So even though he proposes marriage to the 17-year-old, Jenny tracks down his current wife (with child) and that lady tells her of David’s taste for young girls, grateful that at least Jenny isn’t pregnant like one of the others.

The storyline lives up to the title, for Jenny’s adventure is indeed “an education” in becoming an adult. David is such a coward, he leaves Jenny alone to explain to her parents why there won’t be a wedding and why he can’t date her anymore. To her credit, at least Jenny cuts David off when she realizes he’s married. Then she tries desperately to get back into school so she can take her college entry exams, but her hard-nosed headmistress, played by Emma Thompson, won’t give her a break since Jenny burned that bridge with some cruel but accurate comments while leaving school. Luckily, another teacher helps Jenny succeed so her life isn’t totally ruined, and the movie ends as she enters college, hiding this past misadventure and the hard lesson learned about the way the world works.

Written by Nick Hornby, the dialogue is at times comical and at other times sad. I wanted to scream at the TV when Jenny refused to see the warning signs of David’s shady character, but she emerges smarter and stronger after the affair, even able to see the goodness in her pedestrian father, played effectively by Alfred Molina. “An Education” is a “coming-of-age” movie that every teen who’s “14 going on 40” should see to get an education of their own about evil adults.