Quickcard Review - Chicago International Film Festival Review An Education

Directed by: Lone Scherfig Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins Rating: PG-13 Release Date: Oct 12, 2009 (CIFF) Oct 16, 2009 (Limited)

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PLOT: In an era where Camus and Godard are rebels, not icons, a young girl (Mulligan) with a strict upbringing starts a gentle but unlikely relationship with an older man (Sarsgaard).

WHO'S IT FOR? The art house crowd with patience for a slow film that can’t keep up with the energy of its actors.

OVERALL

The performances of An Education are certainly charming, with the natural radiance of Carey Mulligan and her fresh chemistry with the slightly goofy, quite older Peter Sarsgaard. However, the story that contains these two characters fails to keep up a heartbeat. It’s not particularly thumping, and the film is possibly too sweet and simple for its own good. Jenny’s tale of growing up is a nice story, sort of like a reverse Graduate, but is treated too lightly, with no severe lessons or particularly dirty hands. Glossing over the drastic events like a first cigarette, drink, or even loss of sexual innocence, it is a rare coming of age story that manages to be detached from youth.

It’s difficult to really celebrate this film when it feels like it could be viewed best on an airplane (this is not a cheap shot, really). For starters, An Education is a somewhat obscure film, one that when name-dropped will impress your friends and family who have probably never heard of this foreign period piece. Second, it’s a barely confrontational film, one that could keep every single frame and still maintain a family-friendly flying experience that uses a PG-13 film for entertainment. As stated before, the film is also quite simple – one could fall asleep, go to the bathroom, or look for their iPod for five minutes without missing a theme or key element to the story. A film's background and lack of scandalous content is no fault of its own, but it is a problem when it is so simple that a viewing of it can be justified on a tiny flat screen with semi-decent headphones.

You might fall in love with Mulligan or Sarsgaard, but other than that, An Education has little to offer.

FINAL SCORE: 6/10