Jenny is a bright teenager with a promising future but she longs for something different, something exciting to happen in her life. You know, like all them other teenage movies about girls. This one's different folks, hang in there. Any who, one day she meets an older man, David and a spark is born. He's charming, her parents love him and he can talk them into anything. An affair blossoms and Jenny has experiences she only dreamed of. Ah the 60's, where a teenager can date a man in his mid to late 30's and nobody blinks an eye. It's actually a sweet love story. Will it all work out? Come on now, you get the drift. I don't want to give away spoilers because this movie is way brilliant.
Okay, let's get into it. This movie is totally all Carey Mulligan, it rests on her shoulders and she does a brilliant job in holding it all together. I really wished she had won the Oscar for her portrayal. I won't get into that now.
Jenny is a 16 year old in 1961 on the fast track to getting into Oxford. She's working hard for it, her father pushes her hard to be the best. Jenny is confused, bored, wants her parents off her back. The usual teenage angst. One day she meets a man who offers her a ride, he's charming, he's cute, what's not to love.
Peter Sarsgaard plays David, Jenny's beau. He's so brilliant, I'm surprised he got passed over for some nominations. But like I said before, this film really is all bout Carey's performance. Back on track, David is so different than what Jenny is use to. He's older, he's Jewish, he charms her parents into allowing this relationship to go forward. He takes her to concerts, even to Oxford. It's so exciting for Jenny and she falls head over feet. David falls head over feet as well, there's no denying that. David clearly loves Jenny.
Along the way David introduces Jenny to his close friend Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his ditzy but sweat girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike). During a weekend away Jenny witness some odd behaviour and miss doings by David and Danny. Something isn't right, Jenny knows what's going on, that it's wrong but she brushes it aside. She's falling in love, all the rest doesn't matter.
During all this, Jenny's school work suffers. Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams in a very unglamourous role as Jenny's teacher) is so disheartened that Jenny is throwing her education away, she refuses to give up, claiming she's throwing her life away. But Jenny doesn't care, she's in love and David has porpoised. She's quiting school, she doesn't need it when she marries. You just know it's all gonna blow up in her face from there. Don't worry folks, it has a happy ending, I guess.
An Education is based on true events in the life of British journalist Lynn Barber. It's based on an autobiographical essay that Barber wrote for Granta magazine. Later, Barber released her autobiography An Education in 2009.
