An Education, film

We went to downtown Jamestown yesterday evening, saw An Education, at the Reg Lenna theater, one of the great old theaters that are struggling to survive. Most if not all of the audience was our age, certainly no young kids. It was run by volunteers but was a pleasant enough experience, once the sound was set properly. We ate at Taco Hut, just across the street from the theater, a decent, very crowded Mexican restaurant, seemingly popular with the young, families, as well as the pre theater crowd. It was nice to see a crowded restaurant in Jamestown for once. My chicken quesadilla was quite filling, tasty, and Evie got tacos. The movie, AN EDUCATION was interesting as well, wonderfully acted, set in London in 1961, as young Jenny is aiming for Oxford, the star of her all girls school. As she returns from music practice, a young man offers her a ride, and charms her with his easy charm. He must be in his late 20's or early 30's, she's sixteen, shy, inexperienced, knowing only the narrow small world of her parents apartment and school. David and friends, as we find out, are hip, jazzy, seemingly wealthy, and they introduce Jenny to an amazing world of high society, clubs, travel, and art, even going off to Paris for a weekend. Of course, Jenny is bowled over, enough to overlook the fact that they are at heart,con men, taking advantage of the elderly(stealing paintings), and deliberately renting to blacks to buy the cheapened real estate as a result of white flight. The dilemma for Jenny is whether to marry David(he proposes)on her 17th birthday or stay in school and go to Oxford. The other part of the story revolves around her father, amusing and often a know it all, constantly complaining about money, about the cost of school, and Oxford. He is easily taken in by David, his charm, his wealth, his car, and slowly allows David to do as he wants with Jenny, taking her to Oxford, even to Paris for a weekend. He conveniently believes she will be staying with David's aunt. The climax is reached as they all go off in David's snazzy car to celebrate the wedding proposal. David stops for gas and Jenny innocently looks in the glove compartment for a cigarette but finds letters addressed to Mr. and Mrs. David Bergman(for some reason, it's clear he is Jewish). Jenny immediately leaves the car, refuses to tell her parents what's up, and gives David the choice of telling her parents he is married. He leaves, without saying a word, and she tells her parents what's transpired. The last twenty minutes involve her attempts to rebuild her educational world, and though she is turned down by the headmistress, when she asks for another year, she is saved by the somewhat dour English teacher whom she made fun of for her dull, boring insignificant life. Because of this teacher's support, she crams for the year, passes her exams, and gets into Oxford, a happy ending of sorts. The major interest is the choice she makes early on, to give up the traditional life, as she sees it, of working, studying, and getting an education for the life of the moment, spontaneous, filled with adventure, change, even the sense of being bad. They way the movie is set up, it's easy to see why, at sixteen, she prefers David and a life of thrills. It's only when she is let down that she and we see the truth, that there are no easy roads, and if there are, they are likely mirages or ephemeral. Looking back, her precociousness seems a bit stretched, especially how easy she is accepted by David's older and chic friends; after all, in the beginning she is but a douty school girl, though by the end, she has become a woman(lost her virginity and dreams. Ultimately, it was a pleasing, even interesting movie, mostly because of Jenny, her father, and David. The father's apology to his daughter, towards the end, for letting his guard down, and his confession that fear has guided most of his life, and all he wanted for her was to be able to avoid this fear, is the most touching in the film.