Peter Sarsgaard in An Education
Nick Hornby's Screenwriting Debut
Mark Twain once said that a person should not let his schooling get in the way of his education. That quote is particularly pertinent when thinking about An Education. Not only is the truth of the film just that, but that it is the screenwriting debut of Nick Hornby, whose novels are typically filled with the kind of life, humour and understanding that Twain would have been proud of.
Like Twain’s, Horby’s characters are typically outsiders living within the confines of a rigid society that can’t possibly sustain their interest. They are disenfranchised for the very simple reason that it is more interesting than being bored by convention. Hornby is the poet of naive, overachieving boys and girls, and disconnected men and women.
Like Will in About a Boy and Rob in High Fidelity, Hornby’s characters are always trying to fit in and achieve acceptance: to find love or meaning in their lives while staying distinctly outside of the status quo, or to be a youth trying to break free of social ignorance and grow up into a life of excitement and meaning while finding someone to guide and teach along the way.
Based on Lynn Barber's Memoir
An Education, based on Lynn Barber‘s memoir, puts both of these Hornby archetypes, literally, into the same bed. It is the story of Jenny (a star making performance from Carey Mulligan) a 16 year old girl whose uptight father (Alfred Molina) is constantly hounding her to keep up her grades in order to move on from a private school into Oxford University where she can study English and find a lucrative female career.
It’s the early 60s however and Jenny dreams, not of the rigid social structure of Oxford or England for that matter, but to move to Paris and be free: speaking French, seeing French films and especially listening to French music. Music is the quintessential social standard by which all taste and culture revolve and are judged in Hornby’s universe.
Then one day, while waiting for the bus in the rain she meets David, a man in his 30s. In a classic example of Hornby's typically delicate human comedy, the man states that he'd like to offer her a ride, but more than that - he is a music lover and is worried for the sake of her cello. He dare not ask her to get into a car with a stranger so he suggests she put the instrument in the back and walk alongside the vehicle.
Jenny strikes up an instant infatuation with David for the same reasons all mature, cultured young girls strike up infatuations with older men: he listens to the right music, watches the right movies and knows exactly the right things to say to make a girl feel like a lady. In other words, she's curious to learn about life and needs a man to teach her.
Peter Sarsgaard
David is played by Peter Sarsguard in that special way he has. He appears to be a clean cut gentleman on the surface: charming, caring, delicate, while mysterious and possible sinister motives mill away just below the surface. A warm smile is never usually just an expression of joy for Sarsgaard; it is a personality mask.
Jenny soon finds that David is involved with some shady dealings with his partner Danny (Mamma Mia’s Dominic Cooper) and his philistine wife Helen (Rosamund Pike). Yet despite it all, David continues to steal Jenny’s heart. He takes her to concerts, for weekends in Oxford and even a trip to Paris, teaching her all about life and culture. All the while, he manages to completely wrap her parents around his finger much to the dismay of her teacher Miss Stubbs and the school’s headmistress (Emma Thompson, who does more acting in a few short scenes than many can in entire films), who want to see her continue to expand her intelligence with an Oxford education.
No need to give away another word of what Jenny discovers about David and how it affects their relationship. An Education is really about a girl, wise beyond her years in school and in culture but still emotionally stuck in the gullible obliviousness of the teenaged mind. She’s an eager girl who watches life from the sidelines, desperately looking for an invitation in.
Not a Love Story
The film is therefore not so much a love story between an older man and a young girl, but about the emotional learning curves that result from such a relationship. Jenny discovers that the real world is not as simple as knowing good art; good film and good music but that one must face life head on, experience love, face heartbreak and defeat it as a better person in order to learn these valuable lessons, the lessons of being a teenager, while still living life to the fullest. That’s what Twain was saying; that’s what David’s acquaintance ultimately teaches.
The film’s director (Danish born Lone Scherfig) approaches this material, not from the eye of a cynic as this plot description may have made it sound, but in a quite, loving, funny way. She doesn’t go for big dramatic revelations, but rather concentrates on the little moments that pop up out of the blue and smack from the left while we are looking right: the little lessons in life that are of more value than any textbook could provide.
And like Hornby, she loves people; their quirks and personal characteristics. She doesn’t blame David or scold Jenny for their philandering because no punishment is required. They’ve both learned a valuable lesson the only way valuable lessons can be learned: the hard way. That is, after all, what being a teenager is for. It’s just one chapter closing and a new one beginning at the end of a long day. Another valuable lesson learned in the most valuable classroom of all: the classroom of life.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
What do you think about this article?
Comments
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles