An Education

An Education (2009). Director: Lone Scherfig

An Education tells a story of Jenny, a smart teenage girl who is bored with her life as a high school student. Just like her classmates, Jenny works hard so that she can get into a good college. Unlike her classmates, however, going to college is not just an end for Jenny, but a means to leaving her ordinary and bland life behind to begin a new chapter; and Jenny really can’t wait. With her talent, Jenny is in a good position of getting into Oxford, the first step of her ticket to a great life. Then she meets David, a mature and charismatic businessman. Jenny sees everything she wants for her own life in that of David. Drawn by the prospect of having the life that she always dreams of, Jenny abandons her plan to go to college and starts a relationship with David, only to find out eventually that David has been deceiving her about many things.  

As the title says explicitly, this movie depicts a life lesson for Jenny, who seeks to change her life so desperately that she falls victim to David’s deception. Up to some point, we can perhaps take a more sympathetic standpoint and blame Jenny’s misfortune to her naivete. However, as much as Jenny is a victim, she is not at all innocent. There are several occasions where Jenny clearly sees David’s shifty nature and immoral deeds. Although she is shaken, even repulsed by such finding at first, she eventually chooses to close an eye to it because she wants to hold on to the wonderful life that comes with David. What makes Jenny eventually confront David is the discovery that he already has a family and therefore cannot marry her as promised. David leaves her life, and Jenny realizes that her dream of a wonderful is her own responsibility to pursue. 

I like this movie for many reasons. The acting of course is excellent, especially Carey Mulligan’s performance as Jenny. Another thing that I like is that this movie delivers a very much overused “there’s no shortcut in life” message in a fresh and genuine way. In addition, with such a message, it is easy to imagine long dialogues, most likely delivered by a teacher or a parent, that reprimand Jenny and preach against her folly; this movie has very little, if any, of those. On the contrary, it uses just the opposite to provide a sharp contrast to Jenny’s immaturity. Jenny’s parents, after realizing that the likable David is a fraud, are very heartbreakingly guilty for not being able to see through David’s disguise sooner. A school teacher, who treats Jenny as her favorite pupil, extends her helping hand when Jenny asks if she would tutor her for the entrance exam, even after Jenny’s earlier comment on the teacher’s life being as good as dead. The most harsh judgement on Jenny perhaps comes from herself, which is beautifully delivered in a one-sentence line, where Jenny says to the teacher that after all that happened, she “feels very old, but not very wise”. 

When the story concludes, Jenny is admitted to Oxford and her life is back on the original track, with new understandings to life and scars that come with the lesson learned. Jenny’s narration at the very end, about pretending to have never been to Paris (David took her there once for her birthday) to subsequent boyfriends in college, sounds old, wise and poignant all at once.