I'm glad we managed to catch "An Education" before it rotated out because it's easily the best movie I've seen since early March (Revolutionary Road). The plot is pretty simple. A teenage girl meets an older man and he courts her. That's about it. But the performances are extraordinary, the dialogue is dry and witty, and lead Carey Mulligan is being touted as the new Audrey Hepburn. Or as my theater companion kept saying, "she looks just like Katie what'shername?" She meant Katie Holmes and there's no doubt an eerie resemblance. But Mulligan is ten times the actress -- and I'm a huge Dawson's Creek fan.
There's a whole bunch of familiar faces in this movie (even if you won't remember their names) and I was shocked to find out that Mulligan and co-star Rosamund Pike played Kiera Knightley's sisters in Pride & Prejudice. What have they been doing in the meantime? They're both fantastic and ditzy Pike has some of the funniest lines.
The screenplay is by Nick Hornby, king of the 20-30ish male book set. I love Hornby and having him behind this story made it even more of a reason to watch. Adapting Lynn Barber's memoir, Hornby creates and captures the era and Jenny perfectly.
Plus, Danish director Lone Scherfig, part of the Dogme 95 school, previously did "Italian for Beginners" which I remember liking. Anyway, just watch this movie, it's good. Not perfect, but really really good.
