Sunday, November 01, 2009

31.10.09 :: an education :: engaging

This is one of those films where I wished I hadn't seen/read/heard so many trailers, interviews and reviews. While the buzz around this film is one of the main reasons I went to see it, there was a sense of waiting for the bits you knew were coming which slightly spoiled my enjoyment of Nick Hornby's excellent adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir.


Definitely a case of truth being stranger than fiction, the happy ending and glamourous styling of Jenny's story often hides the much darker tale of David, her older lover. At the few points where the undercurrent rises to the top I was reminded of Paul Andrew Williams's London To Brighton which would make an excellent double bill with An Education.


Some clever camera work (particlularly in Paris) and excellent performances (especially from Carey Mulligan - who I now realise I recognised from 2006 political fantasy The Amazing Mrs Pritchard) give a real sense of an idealised 60's London. The grim undercurrents of sexism, racism and exploitation prevent this from becoming the feel-good movie one fears it would have been had it been pure fiction rather than a dramatisation.


onewordreview :: engaging