Where do we get our educations from? The obvious answer is from schools in whatever form that may be in. Education is usually seen in the form of books and studying, taking tests and getting grades. An education is more than that, though. Book learning is important but it is not the only form of education out there. We’ve all heard the term “educated idiot” referring to someone who has schooling but remains stupid about basic things in life. Likewise there is the phrase “street-wise” referring to someone who may not have formal education but has been schooled on the streets. The film An Education examines both sides of the coin following a girl who has the formal education but lacks the street smarts. By the time she gets to the end of the story she will possess both.
The year is 1961 London. Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) is a smart 16-year-old girl with aspirations to attend University of Oxford. Her overbearing father, Jack (Alfred Molina), pushes her in her studies, prioritizing her studies over everything else, including her Cello playing, something she is very passionate about. After youth orchestra rehearsals, she waits for the bus in the down-pouring rain only to have a young man, David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard), offer to put her cello in his car while she walks alongside to keep the instrument safe. She agrees but when the rain worsens she asks for a ride home instead. The following week, before her musical performance, he sends her an expensive bouquet of flowers, wishing her luck. Later, amongst her friends, she sees David in town. She approaches him and, after some small talk, he asks her to a concert and supper.
David is a smooth talker and when he meets Jenny’s parents he easily wins them over, appeasing any apprehensions they have over her going out with an older man. As the relationship deepens several red flags become obvious. She observes him and a friend, Danny (Dominic Cooper), make off with an expensive map, obtained illicitly. David convinces Jack to allow his daughter to accompany him overnight to Oxford ostensibly to visit a friend of his, C.S. Lewis. In truth C.S. Lewis no longer resides at Oxford. David forges a signature on one of Lewis’s books for Jenny to show her father when they return. The more time Jenny spends with David the more she slacks off on her studies until she finally decides to quit school altogether and just enjoy life with him. A major revelation late in the film brings this all crashing down around her, teaching her a valuable lesson on life.
Carey Mulligan is a real eye-opener here in one of her early roles. She got her start on film just four years earlier with the period-piece romantic drama Pride and Prejudice playing younger sister Kitty Bennett. She had a few interesting roles after that but it wasn’t until 2009 that she really broke out with her performance in An Education. She is a frustrated young woman who is feeling the pressure to get good grades and please a father that, in her mind, cares nothing about what she wants. She loves her father but you can clearly see that she’s frustrated with him, too, wanting to lash out against his strict rules. When David gives her an out, she takes it and she is even complicit in deceiving her father justifying those actions because of how restricted she’s felt in that household.
David comes off charming but it doesn’t take long to see through this act. Something is off with him that isn’t immediately apparent. He’s a con-artist that can talk his way into anyones confidence, including Jack who has nothing but negative to say to any other boy Jenny brings home. It comes out later that he uses his silver tongue to lie, cheat and steal from people. He convinces Jenny to give up her virginity to him, only respecting her desire to wait until she is seventeen. He shows her Paris and the night life of London, a world previously denied her, but he also takes from her her desire for knowledge. She leaves school for him, willing to abandon her life’s goals for him. He makes her believe education is not worth the effort and life can be as simple as partying and hanging out with their friends Danny and his girl Helen (Rosamund Pike).
Jenny goes to her headmistress, Miss Walters (Emma Thompson) and drops out of class, missing her college entrance exams. Her teacher Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams) tries to talk to her but Jenny throws it in her face. She does the same to Miss Walters, telling her that a life of academics is a life wasted. This stings Miss Walters and when Jenny comes back later, a wiser woman, Miss Walters refuses to allow her to retake her final year and exams because of this. Only with Miss Stubbs’ help is she able to graduate and apply for Oxford.
Jack’s relationship with his daughter is a complex one. He doesn’t want her going out and living frivolously and thus hasn’t exposed her to a whole lot of culture. It’s hinted that he’s always been like this, even keeping his wife, Marjorie (Cara Seymour), away from it. He’s surprised when Marjorie knows the concert hall David wants to take Jenny to even though it’s a good distance away. Her response to his surprise is to remind him she had a life before marrying him. Later, though, he will confess to Jenny that he heard something on the radio that contradicted something she and David told him. His first thought at that moment was that the radio was wrong, not her.
Jenny gets a real education from her experiences with David. She learns about the excitement and the allure of London’s night life. She learns about sex. She also learns about deception and that, when confronted with his lies, rather than face the music and admit what he did he drives off instead, disappearing from her life. The fortunate thing is that she learned her lesson and had the humility to approach her teacher and ask for help getting back on track. It was a lesson hard learned and she was fortunate to have a teacher that cared enough to assist her. When she finally gets to attend Oxford she goes there with a life education many of her fellow students do not have. It will help her avoid many of the pratfalls many of her callow classmates may fall prey to.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan
Best Adapted Screenplay: Nick Hornby
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Release Date: February 5, 2010
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, Carey Mulligan
Directed By: Lone Scherfig
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