An Education (2009)

[6]

Carey Mulligan gives an outstanding performance in this adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir. Mulligan plays a sixteen-year-old in 1960s London, pushed by her father to study hard so she can get into Oxford. When she falls in love with a charming man nearly twice her age, she decides to let her education slide. But Prince Charming isn’t all he’s cracked up to be and Mulligan ends up regretting the trade-off before making a last-ditch effort to reclaim her academic reputation. 

Mulligan pulls you into this movie and makes you root for her. Which is good, because without her, it’s just a movie about a hormonal teenager making a bad decision which isn’t anywhere remotely on the level of life-or-death. The American studios put these kinds of movies out all the time, but I guess when the British do it, it becomes Oscar worthy.

Anyway: Peter Sarsgaard is indeed seductive as the object of her affection. Rosmund Pike and Dominic Cooper are fun as his best friends. Emma Thompson shows up in a couple of scenes as the school’s headmistress, but Olivia Williams leaves more of an impression as a concerned teacher. Alfred Molina is also memorable as Mulligan’s father.

Directed by Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners).

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Actress (Mulligan), Adapted Screenplay