A very valuable educational lesson!

I was in complete awww with this film all the way through! I think, like most British films that cap off a few Oscar nominations are very underrated even if it gets a Best Picture nomination. An Education is a very beautiful film that is very heartfelt and emotional. The film itself is an educational lesson because it teaches teenagers who are 16-17 to make the most of the rest of their childhood before they grow into adulthood. There were quite a few unexpected twists in this film which I was surprised about from a film like this.


An Education tells the story of a young 16 year old schoolgirl called Jenny. When she meets older Jewish man David, they build a relationship and he tries to take her away from her childhood life to move towards her adult life. Newcomer Carey Mulligan delivers a performance that I think should have got her the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress instead of Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side! Mulligan is 24 years old and she was playing a 16 year old! Watching her as Jenny, she really did look 16. I would say that this is one of the best breakthrough performances that I have seen. Peter Sarsgaard was good as David. It isn't an Oscar worthy performances from him but it certainly was satisfying. Alfred Molina was AWESOME! His performance was very powerful and should've been nominated Best Supporting Actor. He obviously wasn't going to win but still deserved to be one of the 5 actors nominated.


An Education was directed by somebody who has only been involved in directing episodes in the TV so this film was like a breakthrough for Lone Scherfig despite she didn't get a Golden Globe or Oscar Best Director nomination. Now with the film's success, we are only to expect another Oscar worthy film. I guess her breakthrough success was like Jason Reitman when he did Juno and then gave us Up In The Air. The film is based on an autobiographical memoir of the same name written by British journalist Lynn Barber. An Education was nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture 2009, Best Leading Actress (Carey Mulligan) and Best Adapted Screenplay.


Overall, An Education is a life-teaching lesson for teenagers that is very powerful and emotional to watch. One of the best films of 2009.

8/10