"An Education": A Heroine, and a Country, Ready for Revolution

          Lone Scherfig's Oscar nominated "An Education" is a long meditation on what it means to be grown up. Is it how you talk and the way you dress, or is it something less tangible? Jenny (Carey Mulligan) discovers quickly that a nice car and a glamorous life do not make an adult—and in the end she winds up wiser than most of the adults in the movie, even in a school uniform and saddle shoes. 

            Jenny is a schoolgirl in Britain in the early 60's. The Beatles are still playing dive bars in Liverpool. Bob Dylan has just moved to Greenwich Village. The Feminine Mystique won't be published for at least two years. Britain is beginning to heal from World War II, and is not yet rocked by the counterculture that will come to define the decade. As Jenny cries to one of her teachers (Emma Thompson), "This whole country is bored! There's no life in it or color or fun." 

            Jenny is a straight-A student, a concert cellist, Oxford-bound, and tired of all of it. She craves all things glamorous and exciting, constantly sneaking cigarettes and listening to French records. Relief from her dull routine comes in the form of David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard) , a thirty-something in a suit and sports car who charms both Jenny and her parents. To Jenny, he offers jazz clubs, new clothes and expensive restaurants, and to her parents he offers "cultural opportunities" for Jenny.

            Jenny is swept up in a world of art auctions, gambling and spontaneous weekends in Paris. It's everything she's been craving, and for a while she is seduced. She isn't fooled about David's various schemes and hustles that finance this lifestyle, but she's temporarily able to put aside her moral qualms. "We're not clever like you, so we have to be clever in other ways," David says of his work. "Otherwise, there would be no fun." 

            Although the glamorous life David introduces her to is appealing, Jenny discovers soon that the truth is not so sparkly and exciting. David is not who he says he is; and the parties and vacations come at a steep price. Jenny is left with some very adult decisions to make, and she navigates them with a poise and grace beyond her years. 

            Mulligan is terrific as Jenny, playing a character who is both a wide-eyed schoolgirl and a young woman who in many ways is smarter than those who claim to know what's best for her. Throughout the movie, Jenny's parents and teachers repeat that she cannot possibly know what she wants, cannot possibly know what's best--but Mulligan plays Jenny as determined, poised and principled. She's no fool, only young and inexperienced, and Mulligan strikes a brilliant balance between Jenny's youth and the steely intelligence that allows her to stay somewhat skeptical of David and what he offers.