AN EDUCATION (2009)

DIRECTOR: Lone Scherfig
STARRING: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard

This film kicked off my systematic viewing of all the films I should have seen pre-Oscars but didn’t (next on the list: The Hurt Locker and A Serious Man). Since these are Oscar nominated/winning films it’s pretty natural to expect high quality, and that’s what I got with An Education; however, there was something missing. It’s the kind of film I really wanted to love but when I left the theatre I found myself feeling strangely dissatisfied.

An Education is the coming-of-age story of Jenny (Mulligan), a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl living in the suburbs of London in the early 1960’s. She’s an intelligent young woman with great potential, something that her overprotective parents have put all their hopes and dreams upon. Every day Jenny is reminded of the purpose of her life: to earn a place at Oxford to read English. Still, Jenny is uncertain if that’s the life she truly wants, and instead would rather listen to French records and fantasize about a life of fun and sophistication. This is exactly what she gets when thirty-something-year-old David (Sarsgaard) enters her life, a charming man who claims to be educated in “the university of life.” He whisks young Jenny off into a thrilling world of fancy restaurants, pre-Raphaelite art, and grand concerts, showing her the world she always dreamed of and freeing her from the profound boredom she has endured in her studies. However, as their relationship progresses Jenny begins to suspect that David is not the person he claims to be, even as she jeopardizes her entire future at Oxford.

Let me start with the pros. An Education has many positive qualities that I can understand give it such critical acclaim: the characters are generally well rounded, and the story is one that audiences can easily connect with. The film itself is beautifully shot, costumed, scripted, acted, and so on; there are no failures in the technical department. The questions presented are valuable ones, questions that even I, as a student, have had cross my mind. While the story is not a new one by any means, it had a somewhat unique approach to it and it took some risks concerning teen sexuality.

The problem, however, lies in the fact that the film’s message is almost pre-packaged. Even the title itself seems to declare exactly what the audience should take away from it; there is a message, a moral at the end, and no ambiguity about it. Whereas many similar films with small stories generally leave it up to the audience to take what they find, this one insists upon a single idea. Having a bottom line message is fine, but the film has to be able to back it up. In my opinion, An Education didn’t. It was pretty, it was skillful, but it was shallow, and frankly, it failed to follow up on the questions it dared to ask (particularly regarding David). Not to mention, the ending felt terribly rushed, even though the film was only an hour and 35 minutes long, giving it a whole half hour the filmmakers could have used to flesh out a more solid resolution.

As far as the acting goes, the cast was reasonably strong, although I didn’t necessarily care much for any of their characters. Even Carey Mulligan, who was nominated for Best Actress, failed to blow me away like I expected her to. She was very good, but — forgive me for repeating myself — not nearly as good as Abbie Cornish in Bright Star. Damn the Academy.

Overall, I thought this was overrated. As I said, I wanted to love it, but I didn’t quite care enough to. I hope that the rest of the other Oscar nominated films I’m going to watch will be better than this.

FINAL GRADE: B