Movie: An Education

"An Education" stars Carey Mulligan in her first lead role as Jenny and Peter Saarsgaard as David. It's a coming-of-age movie of a teenage girl in the 1960s of England.  Jenny is a high school teenage girl who is smart yet innocent, still unsure what she wants to do in life.  Jenny loves reading English literature, and her dream is to attend Oxford, although her dad has a different motive behind pushing her so hard.  In the times immediately preceding the feminist movement, a good successful life for a woman was to marry a wealthy husband.


Jenny meets David, a mid-30s businessman who is rich, cultured, and charming.  They quickly hit it off and Jenny soon falls in love with him.  David provides a new exciting life that Jenny could never have possibly experienced before.  She now dines at fancy restaurants, goes to classical music concerts meant for the upper social class, and bids at art auctions.  "You've no idea how boring my life was before I met you......   I never did anything before I met you," says Jenny to David.  Rightfully put. 

It is soon obvious that David is not who he seems.  The true nature of his work and background becomes more apparent as the story unfolds.  Jenny is taken aback, even disgusted at David, but the life she leads is simply too interesting to let go.  It won't be until the last of the harsh facts hits her that she is forced to face reality.  From this relationship, Jenny will learn a few of the many lessons of life.  This is the "education" she does not get from her schooling, but as many would agree, is just as important.

"An Education" is based on the British journalist Lynn Barber's true adolescent life, where she has a two-year relationship with a much older man.  Carey Mulligan's performance as Jenny is as good as you can possible ask for, portraying the different stages Jenny goes through spot on.  She starts out as an innocent, although deep down rebellious school girl.  She gets wowed by the new life she steps into, before having it completely shattered.  And finally, the manner in which she has the courage to seek a resolution at the end is done with much dignity and poise.  With this kind of break-out performance, it is no wonder she received an oscar nomination for the best actress.  

「名媛教育」是根據英國新聞記者Lynn Barber的自傳改編而成的電影，講17歲的英國少女和三十幾歲的男人的一段感情。這不是一段年輕少女愛上成熟男人的愛情電影，而是深刻描寫少女的成長過程。 主演Jenny的是Carey Mulligan，是她第一次演女主角，也因為表現出色，獲得奧斯卡最佳女主角的提名。男主角David，則是由本人相當喜歡的Peter Saarsgard主演，雖是不折不扣的美國人，不過英國口音倒是裝得相當好。

在年少無知的女校中成長，對於大人們上流社會的現實世界，Jenny縱然再聰明，書念得再多，也是不了解的。當她遇到David，他帶給了她這個世界，讓她立刻能享受這樣的生活。她可以一天在高級餐廳裡用餐，接著去聽一場古典音樂會，然後隔幾天再去藝術品拍賣會。David是有錢的生意人，開著高級車，一身穿著也是名牌。Jenny家庭背景則很普通，父親上著典型的班，一心一意想讓女兒上牛津大學，有好的學歷，找好的老公嫁嫁。

不過，David的出現，使Jenny跟她家人對她之前的人生規劃完全改變了。說明白點，眼錢有David，何需再多花錢上大學找未來的老公？一切都可以省了～～     只是，David藏著許多一開始大家都不知道的密祕。Jenny在發現，了解的途中，會知道天下沒有白知的午餐，好好地上了這一堂「人生的課」。片名"An Education"是有兩種層面的。一是指當時英國社會保守的教育體制，二是廣義象徵著Jenny經由這一段戀情所學習到的寶貴教育。這些東西，是學校所不能教的，但常常都是比書本裡的東西重要得多~~~