Carey Mulligan and Peter Sargaard in An Education (Sony Classics, 2009)

A BREEZY adaptation of the Lynn Barber memoir recounting her precocious adolescence in the suburban England of the 1960s, An Education has all the virtues†we have come to expect from a handsomely mounted British production, from the keen-eyed period details to a reliable cast of scene-stealers that includes Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina and Rosamund Pike.

What elevates the film from an amusing diversion to something more memorable is the star-making central performance from newcomer Carey Mulligan.

Mulligan was 22 when she made An Education, but is both convincing and beguiling as 16-year-old Jenny, a bright schoolgirl hungry for a world beyond dreary suburbia and the middle-class aspirations of her stuffy father Jack (Alfred Molina).

He is pushing her towards academic glory at Oxford or a stable marriage to a decent young man with prospects. Her dream is of strolling along the streets of Paris with a lover, smoking Gauloises and listening to Juliette Greco.

It is hardly surprising that the suave and immensely charming David (Peter Sarsgaard) sweeps her off her feet. The fact that he is at least twice her age should be setting off all kinds of alarm bells, but even Jack is rather taken by Jenny’s new best friend.

An Education is a film about growing up and gaining the kind of experience that leaves you a little older and a little wiser. It is very entertaining and takes a generous view of characters who are neither villains nor heroes.

Carey Mulligan shines with all the presence and promise of a young Julie Christie, and when she blossoms into a fair lady she seems as enchanting as a young Audrey Hepburn. This is one of those rare films in which a new star is born.

Nationwide release
© Allan Hunter, 2009

Director: Lone Scherfig
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sargaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson
Screenwriter: Nick Hornby, based on the memoir by Lynn Barber
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 95 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2009

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