An Education : review

An Education, I must say, is not just one of the best British movie of the year, but also one of the best love flick I've seen, apart from 500 Days of Summer. I've been waiting for this one since the hype from Sundance Festival, where it won the Audience Award. And also, a lot of people have praised the performance of Carey Mulligan, which has been nominated for various awards (including Golden Globe, and Oscar perhaps). I missed this movie when it premiered in Singapore back in November, but I managed to get a 'clean download' last week, and yes, it was a very very good movie indeed.

Based on the memoir of Lynn Barber, with Nick Hornby (my favorite novelist) working on the script, An Education tells a story of Jenny (Mulligan), a 16-year old girl, who studies in all-girl school, with the background was set in 1961. For her, the life which she's been through has been 'straight' on the line, which has been laid down by her dad, Jack (Alfred Molina), that after finishing high school, he expects that Jenny would go to Oxford. On the other hand, Jenny feels her life has been monotoneous, or some say, boring enough, with Oxford is solely her only destination at the moment. Until, one day, on a rainy day after an orchestra reherseal, she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a charming guy in his mid-30s, offer her a ride home with his red sporty Bristol car. She cannot reject nor explain the sparks between them, but she's sure enough, that this is something new, something that is beyond her boring life. David starts to bring her along with his friends, Helen (Rosamund Pike) and Danny (Dominic Cooper) to concerts, clubs, supper in late night, and even a weekend at Paris. David's charms are also working well for Jenny's parents, especially Jack, where all the cold and strict attitude seems to be melted down by David's influential and convincing words. Jenny has just started a journey of her life, where she can do whatever she wants, and whatever she likes. She feels that she's within the right group with the right man beside her, with Oxford is clearly out of the focus, and self-pleasure becomes the priority at hand. But in the end, like any other 16-year old girls, the fragility and the rebellious inside her begins to crack and shattered when she founds out that David is not the 'perfect' David she imagines when they first met in the rain.

Carey Mulligan is the new hottest commodity from the UK, I must say, and I believe she's on the right track to follow her procedessors such as Kate, Cate, Keira, and perhaps Emma from the teenager side. Mulligan, 22, is perfect and flawlessly convincing as 16-year old Jenny. Her sweet appearance in every scenes always captures our attention, and refreshing. From the potrayal of an innocent girl living her boring life, into the excitement of the first crush, until the breakdown of all hopes and dreams in a quick succession, damn, she’s really good in all aspects. With all the big star cast inludes Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, and even Emma Thompson, the main star is Mulligan in every scene she’s involved. With this kind of performance, she might be the one of the favorite nominees at Oscar later on.

This catchy drama won’t be successful without the playlist of nice soundtracks, mostly influenced by 60’s French pop music, which most of the time will keep us entertained. I mostly enjoyed the song from the club scene where Jenny had her first ‘supper’.

Overall, it’s not cheesy, nor too melodramatic. It’s not trying to lecture us about the whole teenage fragility, it’s just trying to educate us about consequences and responsibilities, which is are often forgotten when our hormons and emotions were running high. In one scene we felt happy for Jenny, and later on, we also felt all the regretable decisions she made. We can understand the burden of Jack, for pushing her daughter too hard, or being too cold, but in the end, all he just wants the best for Jenny. The final scene when Jack is talking to her from outside her room, behind the door, is so sweet and memorable, and we can see what kind of a dad Jack is.

An Education is one of the movie which will stay in your head for several days, and when you take a look back in to it, you will smile eventually. For all teenage girls, watch this, and learn something from it. Be educated !

My Ratings : 9/10