A worthy education

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

In the trailer for Sony Pictures' potential Oscar contender An Education directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig from a script by an even more pragmatic than usual Nick Hornby, you can sure see why such a heated bidding war occured for this little gem at Sundance. The performances, the cinematography, the dialogue, the exquisite feeling of a pre-Beatles world that so many movies have tried to re-capitulate but never quite managing it as successful as this.

Jeff Wells wrote from the screening he saw at Sundance about 24 year old lead actress Carey Mulligan, who many believe is a shoe-in for a leading actress Academy Award nomination...

"Within two or three minutes I knew I was watching someone extraordinary. Mulligan's Jenny is a very bright and vivacious 16 year-old living a somewhat stifled, middle-class life and pinning her hopes on being admitted to Oxford University. She is spirited but not daffy, off-beautiful and clearly wise beyond her years. What's extra-special about Mulligan is that she possesses -- in this film, at least -- a perky A-student Audrey Hepburn quality that makes you fall for her at the drop of a hat".

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The movie opens in October.