While many a man and woman like the thought of being a seducer and/or being seduced when it comes to romance and/or sex, the lure often ends up being exactly how it's perceived when it comes to fishing. The bait might seem exciting and appetizing at first glance, and will draw in those who throw caution to the wind. Yet, it's usually fraught with heartbreak or danger until it's too late to turn back or spit out the bait.
Seduction has a long history in literature, going back to the Bible, the snake, apple and eventual fall from Paradise. Such tales have come and gone since then, with characters falling prey to temptation and the feelings they think they'll experience via the immediate goods and/or behavior.
The latest naive victim is 16-year-old Jenny, a bright student at an all-girls school. While she would seem to have everything going for her -- loving if sometimes irritating parents; a smart and cultured mind; good looks, academic determination; and what would otherwise seem to be a bright future -- the only issue is when and where she's growing up. Specifically that's the early 1960s in the London 'burbs when & where women didn't have a great deal of enticing career options.
Thus, when an older, cultured and charming man shows up in her life, befriends her without sexual overture or menace, and starts to show her things she only dreamed of before -- and thus allows her to live, at least in her mind, for the first time in her life -- she's smitten by the proverbial greener grass over there.
That's the setup for the appropriately titled "An Education," a superior little dramedy that eventually segues into straight drama and only suffers from an unnecessarily and not entirely believable end to its final act. Until then, it's quite an entertaining ride thanks to good performances (including a star-making turn by its lead), smart writing and dialogue, and the fact that this film about seduction actually manages to seduce the viewer into being lured in one direction only to set the hook and then yank us another way.
Director Lone Scherfig -- working from Nick Hornby's adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir -- manages to do just that by employing additional dangling carrots, namely in the form of the two central characters. For starters, the young protagonist somewhat comes off as a '60s era and London-based version of Juno -- smart, snarky and a bit bored with her place in life. Rather than be annoying or reek of coming off as a Hollywood construct, she's cute, fun and funny, and thus sinks the lure into the viewer without them realizing they've been hooked.
Then there's the older guy who sweeps her off her feet, but does so in a series of small, disarming and charming steps, one after another. By constantly giving Jenny an out any time she or her parents want it, David worms his way into their lives, offering all of them hope for a great future for the teen, and thanks to the writing and performances, we truly hope she's going to be happy. And with her transforming into a cultured woman who's a spitting image of a young Audrey Hepburn, we're emotionally vested, hook, line and sinker.
Alas, we know, as does the protagonist at some level, the old saying that if it looks too good to be true, it most likely is. Accordingly, while being entertained by the dialogue and chemistry and being won over by the performances, it isn't difficult to discern that something's eventually going to go amiss.
Since the story is told from the teen's vantage point, it's not overtly obvious at first, and the filmmakers take their time slowly dropping various hints about what's to come. By the time that happens, she's in too deep and has already done her bit of bridge burning, realizing too late that she needs a way to get back over to her previous life before the enticing detour.
While that might sound tragic and more than a bit of a downer -- and in a way it is -- it's all appropriate for the symbolic title. And what helps us through it all are the performances. While supporting ones are good across the board -- from the likes of Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour as the girl's parents, Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike playing unintentional accomplices in the better lifestyle seduction, and Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson as the voices of reason who fall onto deaf or at least questioning ears -- it's the leads who make the pic work so well.
As the seducer who's a bit questionable at first and then falls prey to yet another element of seduction (regarding his own heart falling for the girl), Peter Sarsgaard manages to make what otherwise could have been a truly creepy pedophile, thief and manipulator quite charming, at least at first before everything is revealed. He certainly benefits from the favorable first impression that helps create a strong impression for viewers before the hammer starts to fall.
Yet, it's Carey Mulligan (22-years-old at the time of filming playing 16) who steals the show as the bright and charmingly precocious teen who grows up faster than she should, learns a lesson or two and gets burned in the process. Her performance is simply stellar, the aforementioned Hepburn comparisons are unavoidable, and if there's any justice in the world of entertainment, she could and should become the next big thing.
The only drawback, none of which is her fault, is how things wrap up at the end. While the film at its essence is fairly conventional and predictable, it never really feels that way until the conclusion that comes off as nothing but rushed (a montage helps takes care of that) and actually betrays all that preceded it with a tacked on, all's well that end's well finale.
It's hard to say if that stemmed from the source material, an artistic choice or some studio involvement in wanting a happy wrap-up, but the ending simply feels out of place and contrary to everything that came before it. That's not a fatal flaw, but it does put a bit of a damper on what's otherwise a terrific bit of filmmaking. Even so, "An Education" is still good enough to warrant a 7 out of 10 rating.
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