An Education (2009)

If you've read some of my other recent reviews, you'll have noticed I've been disenchanted with the lack of freshness in some recent films. Well... consider me refreshed. An Education is a sweetly charming viewing experience with a quiet solidity that keeps it from flying away.

It's a coming-of-age movie and yet it's not corny or silly. It helps that the main character, Jenny, is already fairly mature and intelligent for her 16 years - there's just some things about life that school hasn't taught her. It's the 1960s in the London suburbs and Jenny is waiting in the rain for the bus after orchestra practice when a man about twice her age, David, offers to give her a ride home. Nowadays one might think stranger danger. Jenny does too for a moment, but his sincerity and offer to protect the cello and let her walk along side the car eventually convince her to get in.

They bump into each other some more and she ends up dating him. Her parents are even ok with it. David has a convincing story for everything. He tells them he just wants to expose her to culture. Before she met David, Jenny wanting nothing more than to read English at Oxford. But now the life David presents seems so much more interesting and the Oxford priority fades.

Carey Mulligan plays Jenny. Several critics have likened her to Audrey Hepburn - although I think a lot of that comes from the time period of An Education and Mulligan's vague resemblance. While Hepburn often played the wide-eyed girl experiencing things for the first time, Mulligan is much more coy. We can see her excitement and her sadness but it all plays out on a less extreme spectrum than Hepburn's usually did. Mulligan has this heft to her performance as she balances maturity and self-awareness with surprise and naivete. Jenny knows so much but there's still so much she doesn't know and Mulligan pulls this off so well it's no wonder she's won several awards for the role.

Meanwhile Peter Sarsgaard plays David, pulling off a decent English accent in the process. He clearly knows his own intentions for Jenny but he hides behind a haze of mystery, sweetness, and reasoning for Jenny, her family and the audience. He skates just along the edge of the creepy line and then back into the territory of maybe-he-just-wants-the-best-for-her.

At one point, David gets permission to take Jenny to Paris - a place she always wanted to go. And it's refreshing to see people go to Paris without driving through the entire city for a montage. Director Lone Scherfig and her team capture a carefree, romantic Paris, only popping in a few landmarks without letting them pull the focus. The color of Jenny's time with David stands opposite the appearance of her dreary school life but the contrast is smooth and subtle enough that it doesn't hit you over the head. And the costumes are beautiful and tailored without it becoming a costume drama.

The whole movie is a beautiful balancing act around a compelling story.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: Showing Audrey Hepburn how it's done today.