"An Education" - REVIEW

Quite early on, perhaps too early on, in Lone Scherfig's "An Education", young Jenny (Carey Mulligan) stands in the rain waiting for a ride home from school, her massive cello case sitting beside her. Suddenly a car pulls up, and a man (Peter Sarsgaard) innocently offers to help her because he's "concerned about [her] cello!" During this exchange the camera cuts between Sarsgaard and Mulligan, and we see her face shift from curiosity and mistrust, to appreciation and delight. It's a small treasure of a moment, and it beautifully illuminates the key to the film's success: young Ms. Mulligan. Though Scherfig's film hits a few bumps in the story department, it's hard to find fault with the cast, led by Mulligan's radiant turn as Jenny, which will hopefully see her attending the Oscars as a Best Actress nominee, and possibly a winner.
Set in England in 1961, we're quickly introduced to Jenny: she's a top flight student, an avid reader, and has plans to go to Oxford to study English, so she can finally read what she wants. Then along comes her encounter with David (Sarsgaard), who offers to take her to a concert in London. Surprisingly, both of Jenny's parents, though hesitant, are swept up by David's charms, and Jenny goes and meets David's business partner Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his ditzy girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike). Time passes, and Jenny starts to go on further adventures, and it's here that the film reaches its high points as far as movie-making goes. Watching Jenny transform is nothing short of delightful, and Scherfig manages to accomplish it all without a single obnoxious "trying-on-different-clothes-shopping-montage".
Of course there are complications, namely as to whether Jenny will still be attending Oxford or not and tt's here that the rest of the cast gets their chances to shine. Sarsgaard makes for a convincing cad, and Cooper and Pike are effective in their smaller but important roles. But the ones who really shine are those characters trying to force Jenny to continue her path of studies. Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson contribute greatly in their brief appearances as Jenny's teacher and school headmistress respectively. But it's Alfred Molina as Jenny's father who really hits the nail on the head. Loud but never blustering or buffoonish, Molina creates an endearing, albeit not always likable character. The same can be said for Mulligan. Jenny may not always seem like she's doing the right thing, but it's hard to deny that Mulligan's performance is engaging and compelling.
Where the film falters, however, is in its storytelling. Though quite breezy in its pacing, an effectively so, the introduction of David into the story is a bit too quick, even though it doesn't diminish Sarsgaard and Mulligan's chemistry. What doesn't work between the two actors are a handful of scenes that are effective at conveying what David wants from Jenny, but not the other way around. Such scenes are dangerously close to crossing the fine between "appropriately uncomfortable" and "icky". There's also a key scene involving Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky) which is both too brief and poorly executed on the dialogue front; if there's something important being imparted from one character to another, it falls flat because so much of it sounds mumbled and without conviction. There's also the ending, which, though emotionally resonant, is almost too quick and too tidy. The final line uttered in the film provides a strange combination of closure and a desire for something more.
But at the end of the day, story hiccups and all, Sherfig's film remains an effective one. By turns both funny and serious, blended nicely thanks to Nick Hornby's sharp adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir, and the cast handle Hornby's words with aplomb. Nick Englishby's score has some nice moments, matching both the livelier and slower portions of the film. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to Mulligan, whose radiant star-making performance is worth the price of admission alone. Scherfig's film has its flaws, but its numerous successes make this an education worth listening to.

Grade: B+