Title: An Education (2009)Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina
Directed By: Lone Scherfig
Like many movie lovers, I like to watch the Academy Award nominees for best picture every year. Sometimes I'll see a film and think the best picture nod was unwarranted (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Crash), and sometimes I'm surprised a movie I like got recognized at all (The Full Monty, Sideways). I wasn't really sure what to expect from An Education, but I can definitely say "okay Oscar, I get it".
Here, Danish director Lone Scherfig has crafted a beautiful, moving story of a repressed 1960's British teenager becoming a young woman. Her direction in this film is much like the girl's journey: flighty and innocent at first, but then more mature and determined as the story progresses. It's truly a testament to the filmmaker how the whole thing comes together, but she isn't the only one deserving of praise.
Nick Hornby is a talented author whose works have been adapted into great screenplays. Here though, it's he who does the adapting of a memoir by Lynn Barber. His screenplay is funny, poignant, subtle and brilliant. Each scene plays off the one preceding it, adding up to a fitting finale in which our heroine has to decide what's really important to her and put what she's learned to use.
Along with Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars, Carey Mulligan has also been nominated for Best Actress. She deserves it. Her portrayal of Jenny is impeccable. She's innocent, mature, smart, determined, confused, solitary, strong, naive and lovestruck all at the same time. She's a teenage girl. And this character comes to life through Mulligan's expressive yet subtle performance.
I also really enjoyed the supporting cast. Alfred Molina is fantastic as Jenny's father, Jack. Peter Sarsgaard, as Jenny's older lover David is great as well. So are Olivia Williams, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Cara Seymour, Sally Hawkins and Emma Thompson rounding out the cast.
This is a very smart and very classy take on a coming-of-age story that definitely lives up to the hype. Recommended.
Score: 8/10
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