An Education

This movie has received some buzz, mostly surrounding the starring performance of Carey Mulligan. She is excellent and will make a run at an Oscar. The rest of the movie was rather disappointing.

Its a familiar tale, at least all the usually mile-markers are there. A coming of age private-school lass with an overbearing father who has mapped out her life, at least as far as Oxford. She meets an intriguing, older gentleman who shows her the culture, night-life, and sophistication she has longed for but never experienced under her father's austere yoke. She is forced to make a choice between following the academic path of her unmarried and uninspiring teacher and headmistress, or live a life of fancy with an intelligent and sophisticated man, whose occupation is lucrative but morally dubious. She chooses the man, who fails her. And in the last five minutes she is redeemed.

Carey Mulligan is fantastic, and an Oscar would not be undeserved. Alfred Molina is typically good as her father. Peter Saarsgaard brings his convincing charm. Rosamund Pike stands out comedically as the lively and unabashedly dimwitted model of what Mulligan's character might become. The performances are the filet of the movie, such as it is.

While on the surface, this is the story of a young woman experiencing the caprice of youth, the moral implications are somewhat troubling. Mulligan makes what could be a life altering decision to marry Saarsgaard and the decision blows up in her face. Yet she still makes it to Oxford, where she was bound all along. The film is based on a memoir (adapted by producer Nick Hornby), so it would be hard to call this arc unauthentic, but it is certainly unrealistic to this reviewer. As an inspiration for youth, a movie such as Rushmore (both, coincidentally, featuring Olivia Williams) offers more encouragement that paths ultimately lead to the right place, even if it is seldom where you want or expect them to lead.

I would be contented with this middle-of-the-road movie, but then it ended. And it ended with a completely unfounded use of later-in-life narration that is truly stomach turning and rather dismissive of the preceding film. Surely there must have been a better way, but this film from start to finish is marked with a remarkable lack of inspiration from everyone who was not on the business end of the camera lens.