Film Reviews

An Education

• Rating:
• Director: Lone Scherfig
• Starring: Alfred Molina
• Details: UK / 95mins (15A).

A touching coming-of-age story and a welcome-to-the-big-time performance from Mulligan is let down by languid pacing and uninteresting plot.

A musical talent on the verge of acceptance to Oxford, smart sixteen-year-old Jenny (Mulligan) has everything going for her in London at the birth of the sixties. Everything, however, is about to be turned on its head. Lugging her cello home from rehearsal in the pouring rain, Jenny is offered a lift by the suave, sophisticated thirtysomething David (Sarsgaard). By the time they reach her house he has charmed his way into her heart, inviting her to jazz clubs, foreign films and auctions. Her parents - Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour - aren't sure about all this, but the silver-tongued David woos them too and soon Jenny is whisked off for weekends (including a trip to Paris) with David's socialite friends, Helen (Pike) and Danny (Dominic Cooper). This 'education' is fun at first, with Jenny throwing herself into the burgeoning swinging London scene, but her grades suffer and how David funds this life comes into question.

Review by Gavin Burke