An Education
 | Author: Jauretsi | Posted: July 23rd, 2009 | Filed under: Film | | Comments Off |
(Carey’s Character Sings Along to Juliette Greco in her Twickenham bedroom)
Me, Marni, and Greg finally attended a screening of An Education and all three of us Starworkers really enjoyed this charming indie film. The casting is strong, with newcomer Carey Mulligan. Greg forecasted Carey last year as “one to watch” in the issue of Last Magazine (Link Below). I had the good fortune of interviewing her, so I can attest to the twinkle in this girls eye.
(Newcomer Carey Mulligan)
The plot is simple: In the post-war, pre-Beatles London suburbs, a bright 16 year old schoolgirl (Carey Mulligan) is torn between studying for a place at Oxford and the more exciting alternative offered to her by a charismatic older man (Peter Sarsgaard). The story is set in Britain in the early 1960s on the cusp of the strait-laced, post-war period and the free-spirited decade to come.
The result is more complex. I figured it was a film about cheap temptations. Then I finally saw it, and realized its about much more. It’s about falling hard inlove, dismissing convention, living off the cuff, acting on a whim, and deciding with your heart. Then the story turns into falling on your face. As you watch the film, you are really rooting for Carey’s character. She’s not an airhead, but she gets duped.
Screenwriter Nick Nornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) says: “For me, one of the points of the film and one of the attractions of the setting was that in 1962, we were still stuck in post-war austerity Britain.” An Education was adapted from a memoir by journalist Lynn Barber, which originally appeared in the literary magazine Granta. It is directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Italian for Beginners).
One of the films producers is Amanda Posey, who set up Wildgaze Films in 1993. Nick Hornby is also a director of the company. With Alan Greenspan, Amanda developed and co-produced the Fox 2000 US Fever Pitch, directed by the Farrelly Brothers and starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.
(Dominic Cooper, another one to watch)
The cast is TIGHT: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, Cara Seymour, Matthew Beard, and Sally Hawkins.
(Dominic Cooper, and the always stellar Peter Sarsgaard)
Carey Mulligan will soon be seen in Jim Sheridan’s Brothers, and also The Greatest, directed by Shana Feste and co-starring Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan. An Education will be released theatrically in Oct 2009.
Read our interview in The Last Magazine with Carey Mulligan here.
J
