A handsome Lothario, a terminally curious English schoolgirl who dreams of love and of Paris.
Maurice Chevalier's voice echoes, "Ah, yes, I remember it well," from the sound track of "Gigi."
And that's the beginning of "An Education," a delightful tale of a girl trying to grow up in London just before Carnaby Street, the Beatles and dozens of other '60s icons smoothed the road for those who followed her.
Carey Mulligan, 22 when filming began, simply sparkles as 16-year-old Jenny, hungry to shed her middle-class, restrictive upbringing and finding the perfect partner in David, an outstanding portrayal by Peter Sarsgaard, who knows how to find all the proper buttons to push and, more important, has the perfect gentle touch with them.
At 16, Jenny is very bright, equally pretty and positive she knows far more than her teachers (Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson) and her stuffy parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour), who are sacrificing valiantly so as to be able to send her to Oxford. But she is dazzled by David and his maroon Bristol, his apparently glamorous friends (Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike), his grace and ease at museums, theaters and concerts and his apparently limitless funds, not to mention his extremely gentlemanly behavior, a touch that makes her plan to present her virginity on her 17th birthday.
Things are not that way forever, and we see flaws in David and his friends. Jenny also sees them, and as a properly brought-up child, she is not always amused by their tendency to play fast and loose with the truth, the least of their sins. Molina is terrific as Jenny's father, as impressed when first meeting David as she is, and he is quick to take advantage of that situation.
The film is based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, with Nick Hornby writing a screenplay that perfectly reflects a teen-aged girl and Lone Scherfig directing stylishly. All the bits and pieces that go together to create an excellent movie are in the right places. A few disparaged the film after its success last spring at Sundance, calling David a pedophile pursuing an under-age girl, but the age of consent in England was 16. It's more like a Pygmalion yarn, and when Mulligan puts her hair up, she looks and moves like Audrey Hepburn, who played the same kind of gorgeous ingenue in "My Fair Lady," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" "Sabrina," "Roman Holiday" and many more.
All the acting is outstanding, with Thompson powerful as always. Williams, as a mousy teacher, is especially good, as is Matthew Beard, a classmate so smitten by Jenny that he'll follow her anywhere, or at least until he realizes she no longer plays in his league.
Opens tonight at the St. Louis International Film Festival, tomorrow at Plaza Frontenac.
–Joe