An Education

In the ennui of post-WWII London (just before it starts to swing in 1961), prep-school darling Jenny (a wonderfully expressive Carey Mulligan) struggles with the pursuit of her ideals and the boring demands of maintaining grades to grant her father’s wish that she enter Oxford. All that changes when a man twice her age (Peter Saarsgard) rolls up in a flashy sports car and offers her an escape from not only a rain-sodden curb, but also from the tedious routine of her middle-class environs. Although schooled against accepting candy from strangers, Jenny accepts the ride and is swept into an Audrey Hepburn world of fancy dress recitals, jazz clubs and even a trip to exotic Paris. Of course, a wolf in any drag is still a wolf, as Jenny ultimately finds. Director Lone Scherfig nurtures the actors along with an easy-going tempo that—while going along with the protagonist’s wide-eyed wonder at the world by which she is being tempted—still maintains an air of disquiet as to the price that will be demanded for this education. Paradise Cinema 7 and Tinseltown. Rated PG-13