Film Review: An Education

I finally saw An Education during Thanksgiving week. I've been waiting to see this since I first heard Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike were announced in the cast last year and I've been following this film as well since this was an independent film with a limited release last October 9th, it didn't expand nationwide till Friday of November 20th (about the same time Precious expanded, with blockbuster opening of the Twilight Saga: New Moon, and Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side, which I have yet to see). It's interesting that these movies including An Education were all showing at the same day in my local theater, lol.

Anyways, here's my review of...

An Education (2009)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson

Synopsis
Set in 1960s London, An Education finds Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a teenage girl just waiting to break free from her boring school life and conservative parents. That escape comes from a disarming older gentleman David (Peter Sarsgaard) who takes her out onto the city's club scene and introduces her to his good friend and business partner Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his unintentionally funny girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike).

watch the trailer for An Education

[source: Trailer Addict]

Now read my An Education Review:

  
An Education was a fantastic film. The story was very well-written and beautifully crafted on-screen, interestingly enough because it was adapted from a true story from a memoir written by journalist Lynn Barber.

The cinematography was impressive and the setting especially the Paris scenes were beautifully shot. Carey Mulligan was radiant and stunningly beautiful in those Paris scenes.

It was very nice to see Carey in a leading role as she pretty much appeared mostly in small, supporting roles as she's still a newcomer in the acting biz. Her first film debut was a small role in the 2005 Oscar nominated film, Pride & Prejudice (one of my all-time favorite films), where she played the fourth sister Kitty Bennet with three older sisters portrayed by the lead  Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, Rosamund Pike (who co-stars again with Carey in this film) as the oldest sister Jane, and Talulah Riley as Mary. It was the first film I've seen and noticed her in. I saw her next on another Jane Austen adaptation, the BBC's Northanger Abbey, where she portrayed another supporting role and a not-so-good-girl character. Then, on Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Marion Cotillard, she had a very brief (like a few seconds-don't-blink-or-you'll miss her, lol) cameo appearance. And now in An Education, I loved Carey on this one as it was so nice to see her in mostly every scene from beginning to the end of this film. She's so pretty to look at on the big screen (reminds me a bit of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's), not too mention, she looked so cute and adorable with her dimples when she smiles (kinda like the adorable young Shirley Temple, but with no curly hair).

Carey is radiant as a suburban teenager in 1961 London who is curious and clever beyond her years but still rather innocent and impressionable. Although she's a very good student and a dutiful daughter
on track to study at Oxford, she sits alone in her bedroom at night longing to be adult enough to live in Paris on her own, basking in the culture. Carey was impressive in this film, maintaining a beautifully believable balance of these contrasting forces, even as Jenny gets drawn from the sedate and boring life she knows into a glamorous new one. It was nice to see her carry this film on her own.

Read my full review of An Education here!