An Education
An Education takes us back to 1961 Britain. It’s before England was the prime shaker of the 60's swinging and Jenny (Carey Mulligan making an impressive jump from TV to the big screen) is a bright high school girl of 16 from a middle class straight laced family. Her fast track to Oxford is hijacked when she hooks up with a smooth operator several years her senior. He’s David played by Peter Sarsgaard who has made a career lately out of playing oily, creepy but interesting characters and here is no exception other than sporting a passable London accent. He’s rich and worldly and not only manages to seduce Jenny but also her very protective parents. He also seduces the audience into believing this taboo relationship is somehow OK. All this might seem oppressively tawdry if it weren’t for certain things like the exploration of pre women’s lib and the contrast of women then and now expressed in the attitudes of teachers like Jenny’s stiff Headmistress (Emma Thompson used sparingly but effectively) and the kind Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams). Then there is the sheer comic relief from Jenny’s father Jack played with scene stealing delight by Alfred Molina. Most compelling however is that it is not a work of fiction but is adapted from the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber that was published just this past June.