An Education

For some reason, An Education did not intrigue me. I first heard of it back in London. It was one of the movies shown at the British Film Institute's London Film Festival. The title, for starters, is kind of mundane, and I did not know much about the storyline. Nonetheless, I watched it in preparation for Oscar weekend.

It turned out to be quite a nice movie. In many ways, An Education is like a toned down version of Atonement. It's a British coming-of-an film about Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a high school student on the track to go Oxford. Jenny is intelligent, diligent, and independent but her desire to be adventurous and to be herself is often stifled by her strict father. After meeting David (Peter Sarsgaad), a random stranger who offered to take Jenny home on a rainy day, Jenny plunges head first into adult life.

Throughout the movie, I kept guessing what is coming for Jenny who is bewitched by David, a much older man, and all the material goods that come with money. I wanted Jenny to realize her mistake early on or fall really hard at the end. Regardless what I was hoping to see, the best part of the movie was when she discovers her mistake and the problem of her relationship with David.

As British as it gets, the emotions of the movie are restrained. Sadness is expressed through quite weeping; happiness expressed through a smile. The set and the quality of the film are surprisingly beautiful with a low budget of $7.5 million. When I finished watching the film, I thought it was nice . It was not specular. It is not a film that lingers with me. But it was a nice film to watch with some good lessons to take away.