Guest Reviewer: An Education

Hello Kittens since I'm busy with school work and being lazy I have asked my friend Brittan (who has a very popular blog herself at www.brittanclaire.com) to review An Education for me.

Take it away Britt!

Directed by Lone Scherfig

Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson

SYNOPSIS: A 16-year-old girl in middle class 1960s London can only dream of a life beyond her rigid schooling and application to Oxford until a much older man sweeps her off her feet and into the glamorous world she’s dreamed of.

THE GOOD: The writing! Every character in this simple coming-of-age story is richly developed appropriately flawed, and the supporting cast brings so much to their roles. The story is adequately paced to allow for character development and still keep the audience’s attention. Nick Hornby’s screenplay is smart and honest. The adults who surround our teenaged protagonist, Jenny, are often troubled and naïve but speak and act like the adults they are. Jenny (the perfectly cast Carey Mulligan), by contrast, is written as a wide-eyed, smart but inexperienced girl. She speaks like a teenager, albeit a teenager with an Oxford-worthy education. Other writers could take a few lessons from Hornby there. (I’m lookin’ at you, Diablo Cody.) I appreciate the honesty of the bourgeois, white, 1960s characters. This is just as much a film about race and class as it is a coming-of-age drama. There are uncomfortable reminders throughout of the context in which these characters exist, and there is no attempt to gloss over or modernize that context. Finally, this film could easily have gone the route of dark and sinister, with Jenny walking into a far worse trap than she did, or at least Scherfig capitalizing on the creepiness of the “older man” element. Thankfully, the story never delves beyond moderately creepy and we are left with an even more unsettling conclusion about the reality of adulthood.

THE BAD: This has been an incredible year for film, so An Education has to be judged in relation to its competition. Although this is definitely one of the better interpretations of this kind of story, it is still something we’ve seen quite a bit before. Maybe I’m a little tired of the coming-of-age film with a beautiful, fresh faced lead character, but with all of the incredibly original stories out there right now, it’s hard to get completely behind a film that’s not doing anything especially new or bold.

THE VERDICT: Definitely one of the more worthy contenders in the Oscar nominee lineup, especially for best adapted screenplay. It will get one more wide run thanks to its nomination, so see it while you can. If you gave your money to Juno, you should give your money to An Education. It’s only right.

I give it 4 ½ out of 5.

Thanks for letting me play, Candace!