An Education

United Kingdom

Synopsis

Synopsis

AN EDUCATION is the story of a teenage girl’s coming-of-age set in early 1960s London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous, more liberated decade to come. Jenny stands on the brink of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 17-year-old whose suburban life is about to be blown apart by the rather unsuitable 30-something Alan. He introduces her to an exciting new world of chic dinners with his charismatic, sophisticated friend and business partner Danny and his beautiful but vacuous girlfriend Helen, whisks her off to art auctions, smoky clubs and foreign trips. He charms her conservative and skeptical parents, Jack and Marjorie. But just as their long-held dream of Jenny getting into Oxford University seems within reach, another kind of life tempts her. Will Alan be the making or the undoing of Jenny?

AN EDUCATION is the story of a teenage girl’s coming-of-age set in early 1960s London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous, more liberated decade to come. Jenny stands on the brink of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 17-year-old whose suburban life is about to be blown apart by the rather unsuitable 30-something Alan. He introduces her to an exciting new world of chic dinners with his charismatic, sophisticated friend and business partner Danny and his beautiful but vacuous girlfriend Helen, whisks her off to art auctions, smoky clubs and foreign trips. He charms her conservative and skeptical parents, Jack and Marjorie. But just as their long-held dream of Jenny getting into Oxford University seems within reach, another kind of life tempts her. Will Alan be the making or the undoing of Jenny?

Nominations

  • People's Choice Award 2010

Cast & Crew

  • Directed by: Lone Scherfig
  • Cinematography: John de Borman
  • Written by: Nick Hornby
  • Produced by: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
  • Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson

Director's Statement

I was very drawn to the world of AN EDUCATION and knew something of the period which provides the film's backdrop - pre-Beatles, pre-Swinging 60s London and still in the shadow of the war as Europe was then. As Nick Hornby has said, this was also a time when England looked to France rather than America for its cultural inspiration. I therefore wanted to get a strong flavour of the time and place, and it was a pleasure as a Danish director to immerse myself in the English detail, but I also wanted to be sure that international audiences today would identify with the story. Jenny in many ways is a very modern heroine ­ questioning her parents, her teachers, making her own choices, discovering sex and the ways of the world ­ and we were blessed with Carey Mulligan¹s subtle and mature central performance, as well as the wonderful ensemble of actors around her.

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