Everyone learns as a child not to get into cars driven by strange men. Equally, bad things don't happen to schoolgirls, so there’ll clearly be a happy ending. For Jenny, David represents an escape from her claustrophobic, Oxford-obsessed school life. But it’s impossible to sympathise when he’s so disgustingly, charmingly pedophilic it borders on psychotic, despite the lack of intelligent support from her gullible parents. As such, the twist and denouement come as no surprise.
More so, An Education is so overly British, so overly upper-class, it’s all rather off-putting. Although it’s set in 1961, the film’s aim is a universal coming-of-age film for young girls. However, whilst the film’s values of career before romance may be indicative of the modern woman, due to the setting it all feels old-fashioned and out of date. As a result, An Education will likely appeal only to a small minority of posh birds.
2/5
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