When sitting down to watch a film penned by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy) you expect something lighthearted and emotional, with a bit of British humor. He's a British author after all. But An Education is different than what Hornby has written before. Perhaps because it’s adapted from the memoir by Lynn Barber, or that it takes place in a post war style 60’s England. The film is a coming of age story for young Jenny, played to perfection by an enchanting Carey Mulligan, who is swept off her feet by the apparently sophisticated David (Peter Sarsgaard).
Director Lone Scherfig gives the film a light touch, bringing to mind classic sixties films from the era in which An Education is set. It’s a bit ironic that two men were able to bring such understanding to the journey of Jenny, a girl who so much wants to be seen as a sophisticated woman rather than the naive sixteen year old she is. As Jenny, Carey Mulligan transforms from clueless school girl to a near mirror image of Holly Golightly. What’s so intriguing is the way in which the world around her transforms into fancy dinners, nights at plays and all of the things a young girl may dream about while Jenny, more often than not sits there and simply goes along with what’s happening.
As entranced as David appears to be with the young girl, you can’t help but feel it’s her naivety that is so appealing. Here’s a girl not interested in knowing the truth about the situation, only trying desperately to be seen as part of the sophisticated crowd. And it’s not just David that has a hold on Jenny, his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Helen (Rosamund Pike) are every bit part of the infatuation the young girl has with the new world. In fact, despite Danny’s distaste for what David does to the young girls he ensnares, he is unwittingly a key component.
Hornby does interject plenty of comedy into the script. Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour fumble about as Jenny’s parents, playing the roles as you might expect in a late 60’s comedy sketch on BBC. We’ve seen a lot of interesting films this year that didn’t have the look to go along. An Education is beautifully shot with era defining wardrobe and hair. Dialogue is witty and true to the characters, Jenny’s classmates’ envy drips from every word they mutter for instance. Perhaps in a different time a girl rebelling against the bourgeois nature of going to Oxford in favor of the bohemian lifestyle would have been applauded, in Scherfig and Hornby’s hands those decisions are given the appropriate weight. Falling for the wrong man, even if he gets you into a fancy dress for parties, is potentially ruinous for any young woman’s life.
