An Education

Editorial

Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood hooking up in Whatever Works last week is like Pebbles dating Mister Burns, and the intimate relationship of 30-plus David (Peter Sarsgaard) and 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) occupies the same dicey territory.

But as An Education enters Dodgy City to reveal how this teen comes of age in the arms of a bloke who could be her father’s mate, it somehow manages to stay classy.

Keeping things above board is dude-lit doyen Nick Hornby (About A Boy, High Fidelity), adapting British journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir into a screenplay that is, happily, more interested in human observation than lascivious Lolita voyeurism.

Not that you won’t be weirded out by David’s attachment to fey but glowing Jenny, an intelligent Twickenham girl desperate to be interesting, creative and cultured (read: French) in 1961. What helps push the vomit back down your throat is the subtle way Jenny’s worldly introduction comments sharply about changing social attitudes, gaping generational gulfs, testing gender shackles, and being unprepared to get what you wish for.

Trying to remember what Mulligan has been in before might fry your mind, but her confident, captivating central performance here announces a major new English talent. Despite being several years older than her character, she exudes such curious innocence and beyond-her-years wisdom as flowering Jenny that you can understand David’s fixation.

Harder to work out is why Jenny’s meek mother Marjorie (Cara Seymour) and traditional father Jack (wonderful Alfred Molina, getting the best lines) are instantly smitten with David. Sarsgaard gets his best chance yet to work his unorthodox charms, but his enchanting of Jenny’s family feels convenient, where all else slots in place without being forced.

Danish director Lone Scherfig continues the life-lessons theme of her debut Italian For Beginners, the fastidious period details and mature treatment of Jenny’s journey making it easy to care about outcomes. A big part of her success is in convincing us this girl is as old as she acts, leaving us belted by secrets which can shatter a young woman out of her depth and experience.

Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson provide top support, but Mulligan shines. Warning: big career ahead.

Zach Gibson