Performances at the Top of the Class

An Education

*** out of ****

Directed by: Lone Scherfig

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Cara Seymour and Emma Thompson

Running Time: 100 minutes

There’s one primary reason to see An Education, and her name is Carey Mulligan.

The young actress single-handedly carries the by-the-numbers film, adapted from Lynn Barber's memoir.

Mulligan sparkles with candor, wit and grace, with a sprinkling of vulnerability, as 16-year-old Jenny, a bright schoolgirl growing up in a middle-class London suburb in the early 1960s.

Her stern father (Alfred Molina) and compassionate mother (Cara Seymour) urge Jenny to keep her head in the books. They aren’t wealthy but have pride in their daughter, who’s been accepted into Oxford University.

That admiration subsides when Jenny meets a smooth, delightful Jewish fellow named David (Peter Sarsgaard). In their first encounter, he offers her a ride home in his beautiful roadster. During the ride, David discusses classical music, concert halls and Parisian hotspots with the innocent but wide-eyed teenager.

Just a harmless drive home turns into more when Jenny bumps into David again. He invites her to a concert with his friends (Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper). David and these acquaintances wear posh clothing, eat in fancy diners and converse about European cinema and art. Jenny is smitten with this lifestyle, even while being seduced by a man twice her age.

Her protective parents are speculative of the relationship, at first. But David, polite and sharply dressed, charms them into letting her go off with him on several excursions. He tells them these trips (including one to Paris) are just social ventures and ways for Jenny to acquaint herself with his well-educated friends and professors (including author C.S. Lewis, who he refers to as “Clive”).

Of course, these are deft deceptions. Of course, Jenny and David have other matters on their mind. And, of course, the grades start slipping and the acceptance into Oxford is up for question as well.

As Jenny, Carey Mulligan is simply enthralling. She has a tender maturity that works excellently in scenes with her naïve parents, but she can effortlessly remove these heavy clothes (in more than one way) during her adventures with David and company, radiantly exploring the lifestyles of the rich and careless.

A relative newcomer (her debut was in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as one of the Bennett sisters), Mulligan is dignified, luminous and vulnerable in all the right places. The only education she needs to be taking is how to channel the awards-season circuit, where she will undoubtedly be in the early months of 2010.

She is surrounded by an excellent ensemble. Alfred Molina (also Oscar-worthy) is a scene-stealer as the controlling, if easily manipulated father.

Emma Thompson, in an extended cameo as Jenny’s brash and anti-Semitic headmistress, and Olivia Williams as her belittled English professor, cautious of Jenny’s romantic perils (ironic, considering Williams is best known as a teacher who’s the object of a student’s affection in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore) are also superb.

My only reservation with the cast is American character actor Peter Sarsgaard. As David, he shares some nice chemistry with Mulligan, but he’s too old for the part; also, his British accent wavers at certain points.

An Education is briskly directed by Lone Scherfig. It is candescently photographed by John de Borman, and Paul Englishby provides the whimsical musical score.

The sets are authentic and exquisitely designed, reminiscent of those from the excellent television series Mad Men, which is also set in the early 1960s. But if Mad Men is a warm glass of red wine, An Education is sparkling champagne.

Nick Hornby’s script, meanwhile, has dialogue as crisp as anything I’ve heard all year. Jenny’s quip to David after her deflowering is an instant treasure.

Regardless, An Education is still a mundane romance with a conventional trajectory. It offers few surprises and wraps up the complications of Jenny’s schooling, not to mention her frisky relationship, far too easily.

While the cinematography is easy on the eyes, the dialogue is fantastic, and the performances, including a breakthrough from Mulligan, are mostly exceptional, An Education is quite predictable and avoids detouring into more challenging material when it has the chance.

The cast graduates with top honours, but maybe Hornby, already an accomplished novelist, needs to take some lessons on how to shake up the story structure.