Movie Review: An Education

I loved this movie. It is a simple coming of age story but it is so much more. The screenplay was written by Nick Hornby (best known for his novel, About a Boy). New to American audiences, Lone Scherfig does a fantastic job directing 25 year old Carey Mulligan in what amounts to an astonishing performance. Mulligan plays Jenny, a 16 year old schoolgirl, smarter then her peers who allows herself to be taken in by David (Peter Sarsgaard), a smooth talking much older man. What makes this movie so special is it's restraint. It never goes where it doesn't need to go. It is the nuance in understanding that this man is not what he seems to be. We all know it. Jenny knows it but there is enough in it for her that she lets herself be seduced. She watches with fascination as David manipulates everyone around him, especially her parents. Using their whirlwind romance as a backdrop, the movie slowly exposes who the characters are without spelling everything out. The subtle art of moviemaking I sorely miss. All performances are perfect. Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour are both flawless as Jenny's parents. Rosamund Pike (Fracture, Surrogates) plays a dumb blonde and does such a great job of it. She has a few memorable and priceless lines. But Mulligan is the superstar. Her gift is her ability to move back and forth between child and grown woman. You will be reminded of Audrey Hepburn at her best. The movie is set in a very repressed London. The year is 1961. No one has ever heard of The Beatles. Everyone is just near boiling under their very proper facades and An Education captures that. There is a lot going on in this very pretty, quiet and unassuming movie. It's only playing in little art theaters so you'll have to look for it.