Monday, 8 March 2010

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An Education

It missed out at the Oscars but An Education with Carey Mulligan is a must-see

Carey Mulligan at the Oscars

Ooh, this could have gone so wrong.

Predatory thirtysomething man whisks naive teenager off her feet in a Britain where the Sixties might have begun but life is still far from swinging.

Yet somehow the story of how bright schoolgirl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) survives the relationship with sports car-driving sophisticate David (Peter Sarsgaard) is an intriguing coming-of-age tale rather than anything yucky.

It helps that the screenplay was done by one of our best novelists, Nick Hornby, from the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber.

She's known as The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for way she ruthlessly fillets her interview subjects. 

It's a lesson in self-possession that Lynn undoubtedly learned young.

An Education out on DVD now

Gillian Crawley