Review of An Education (2009) by Richarde — 26 Nov 2009

This is a mostly well-done movie with a knock-out performance at the center, and some nice ambiguities -- but there are some real problems with its (plural word coming) politics. A problem-and-a-half could have been handled easily if one doesn't mind a major change from a source, and this one doesn't: David is just "David" until Jenny discovers letters addressed to "Mr.

and Mrs. David Gold." Make that "Mr. and Mrs. David Bulwer-Smythe," and have David's ethnicity and class remain ambiguous -- the man *is* a liar -- and that would help with the anti-Semitic undertone and middle-class anxiety about both the upper-class and lower-middle rung-grabbers.

As the film stands, we have a Jewish adult male as a seducer of a nice gentile/Aryan, a Jew who is not just a thief but a block-busting realtor helping dark-skinned people move into the neighborhood. Emma Thompson's Headmistress's speech on Jews as Christ-killers is misdirectiion: the real fears insufficiently addressed are "The Lustful Jew" and "The International Jewish/Black Conspiracy.

" As others have said, the feminist message is undercut by having Headmistress antiJewish; its an additional problem when it confuses the anti-Semitism. The anti-Romantic message in the film is okay, but _An Education_ also teaches fear and distrust of adult strangers and reinforces (among other stereotypes) that of the Stupid Teen who needs to stick to her own kind and the conventional teachings of middle-class prudence.

There's much to be said for such prudence, but chronic distrust of strangers reinforces age-segregation and helps eat away at social solidarity. I will seriously consider the message here next time I'm tempted to offer a lift to any teenager caught in the rain with the possibility of her -- or his, for that matter -- precious cello getting ruined.