When I think about London in the 60s I think swingers, psychedelics and an era which would come to define the rest of the twentieth century; however An Education, an adaption of a literary piece by Lynn Barber, quickly disperses this stereotypical view of London and shows the long aftermath of World War II on the English psyche and the continuing traditionalism, racism and thriftiness that lasted up to the mid-1960s.

An Education tells the story of a pretentious 16 year-old girl named Jenny (Carry Mulligan from And When Did You See My Father Last?) who reads Albert Camus, speaks French with her friends, plays the cello and attends a grammar school, being courted by a charming, reckless rich early-thirties Jew named David (Peter Sarsgaard from Rendition). Jenny comes from a thrifty middle class family, whose father (Alfred Molina from Spiderman 2) controls every aspect of her young life as to make sure she gets into Oxford. David offers a form of escapism from her mundane goal orientated life and Jenny quickly strays from the narrow path and begins exploring “the University of Life”.

Nick Hornby’s (High Fidelity) script offers a wonderful insight into a culture on the brink of radical change by capturing the story of a girl stuck in the banality of England and by juxtaposing this with a man clearly embracing the European lifestyle. Hornby uses all aspects of early 1960’s society to capture this Gatsby-esque tale (Paris in the 60s, the political incorrectness, and the expectation placed on a youth to hold themselves in a certain manner). His script also doesn’t seem to constrict the movies’ characters and allows for a lot of subtlety in the characters portrayals.

Peter Sarsgaard and Carry Mulligan give wonderful performances as the love-struck couple. Sarsgaard’s convincingly shows us the great charm David has over people, yet does not allow us to feel at ease with his presence entirely; due to the age gap between him and his lover, and the unexplainable nature in which he gets money. Mulligan captures the attitude of a 16 year old in great detail, throughout the film we are made aware that she wants to grow-up quickly but is unable to make decisions that will be good for her in the long term. Still the strongest performance is given by Alfred Molina, every time he comes on screen we are given another deeper insight into his character, and I found it hard not to be captivated by his presence through-out the film.

Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) direction is quite precise and she allows the story between David and Jenny to develop with a skilful pace. She has also casted a superb supporting cast: Emma Thompson, Matthew Graham, and Dominic Cooper just to mention a few. However I felt empty leaving the film due to a terrible ending.

The running time of the film is 100 minutes which is a normal running time for a film, so why was the ending so rushed. After the climax of all the action, and a small bit of resolution to the main story, Jenny’s story is just haphazardly thrown on to the screen in a montage. It is not just this convenient directing tool that annoyed me, Nick Hornby’s script also falters in the epilogue, the character that was built up throughout the film just smugly wraps up the next few years of her life, and it all just seems to be awfully hollow. So what could have been a great film is let down by either a small budget or just laziness.

- Peter Downey