The Citizen Review " A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit that he is that man." -Robert Warshow

In a great scene in the last act of this film, an unlikely source of help for the protagonist says this, "You seem to be old and wise." To which she responds, "I feel old, but not very wise."

Here we have An Education, a brand new film that isn't very old but feels very wise. It's based on a sort of memoir by Lynn Barber who said that this story is about her attempt to find elegance in her life. This film certainly documents some very elegant people for sure, but it's much more than that. It starts out with Jenny, a senior at an all-girls school outside of London in the 60's, wishing to travel the world and not fulfill the desires of her parents, which would mean attending the very and wise Oxford University.

Enter older, more sophisticated male with a way out. Or at least, that's what it seems in Jenny's eyes. He's definitely a charmer, convincing her parents to let him take her to London, to various places. It turns out that not all that glitters is gold.

The film succeeds in many ways. It succeeds in showing the tragedy of throwing away one's life for a weekend in Paris, it shows the struggles of many women in the 1960's, it shows that the people we think of as unassuming and docile turn out to be closeted philosophers. The film is beautiful, the actors are all perfection, especially Carrie Mulligan who deserves every award surely to be thrown at her and the script is great too. It's not only an education for those in the film, but those who watch it again and again.

An Education is a film chock-full of great scenes, so great, no minor setbacks the film may have will bring it down. It's about a 16 year old bright school girl who, one rainy day in England, stumbles upon an older, charming man. They met again days later, and one charming phrase leads to another, which leads to the best night of Jenny's life. He sweeps her of her feet and promises there will be more.

So, by this point she's head-over-heals, and soon thinks her education is trivial, and begins to think of life the way her new, older friends see it. She nearly makes a fool of herself, and in the end, well she indeed gets an education.

I said this film has it's minor problems, and it does, but they are minor. And as I also said, it has some amazing scenes. One such scene is in the car with Jenny and her fellow (I'm just quoting this from memory): Jenny says "My teacher once told us that action is character, and I think what she meant was that if we never do anything, we'll never be anybody. And I never did anything before I met you." That, among with others, also showcases the extremely thoughtful, smart screenplay, and the wondrous Carrey Mulligan. Carrie Mulligan's performance has been compared to ones of Audrey Hepburn, because you can't think of anyone else as fresh and vibrant as her. She sweeps the whole audience up with her performance, much like her romantic interest in the film did to her.