"AN EDUCATION" OF A DIFFERENT KIND

Well, I could NOT finish my weekly post without sneaking a peak at the Oscar nominees ® and this weeks’ selection is An Education. This is a film I have wanted to watch for a long time and that may have slightly toyed with my expectations. Oh don’t get me wrong, I fully agree that it is a very worthy contender for the Oscar® in 3 categories (Best Actress – Carey Mulligan - Best Screenplay and Best Picture) not mention the host of BAFTAs it was nominated for (one of which was won by Carey Mulligan) and the Golden Globes and all the many other prestigious awards. But I didn’t love it. I guess I expected to love it…
Anyway, for those of you who were, oh I don’t know, sailing out on the ocean, travelling in outer space or trekking across the desert, here is a brief summary. It is the 60’s,and Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a rather precocious British 17 year old. She lives with her family (with whom she feels she has very little in common) and is preparing to apply for Oxford next year, and this thought alone supports her through her lessons without dying of boredom. She is passionate about music and European culture – French in particular – things her father deems “pointless. But one day, coincidence brings her into contact with David (Peter Sarsgaard). He is 40, rich, suave and very interested in Jenny… She cannot help being swept off her feet and very soon she is receiving more education than she ever could have hoped for – only this is the kind she likes! In fact, she likes it so much; she begins to seriously consider giving up the Oxford brand of education for good and specialize in this one…
I’m staring at the page at this point, desperately trying to put into words what jarred with me while watching this film… Well, it has to be said first of all, that the entire atmosphere and story-telling of the film is an unadulterated success. I watched Jenny and David with butterflies in my stomach at one point of the film and hid my face in my hands from tension at another – completely unable to predict what would come next incidentally. Director Lone Scherfig (you might remember him from “Italian For Beginners” or “Wilbur Decides To Kill Himself”) gives nothing away until he decides to. Hats off to him. But, there is something, mainly about Jenny and her family that I find profoundly difficult to believe. Of course – as Jenny herself says – schoolgirls get seduced by older men the whole time (do they though? Really?). That part is by no means hard to believe. People married young in the 60’s, hell they still do today sometimes, so serious relationships like that at 17 seems bizarre to us now if you think about it but not impossible. And hats off to Carey Mulligan, who after all is not a 17 year old in the 60’s but a 25 year old in 2010 – brilliant acting. But I found the character of Jenny a little tough to believe. She is supposed to be very intelligent, beautiful and original, I get that. But the other 17 year olds in the film are a lot more believable – as 17 year olds – than Jenny. Her monologues at certain parts of the film to various characters are a little too stylized. And the story of the exceptional heroine living through hardship and growing to be beautiful older and wiser (almost a quote from the film) is slightly too “riding off into the sunset” for my liking. Not that every single realistic film has to finish badly, I’m not saying that but a balance could be found… Jenny’s 17 year old admirer is slightly too awkward to be real – but perfect to set off a contrast with David. The whole bears the slant of a 17 year old in its interpretation of the heroine and the events which Is a great success if it was intentional but it went as far as getting on my nerves at some points…
Don’t get me wrong, I am very glad I watched this film, and I’m sure you will be too. It just needs to be more mature – or less mature… Lord, I’m not even sure which anymore…