Review of An Education (2009) by Hanneguacamole — 27 May 2015

Jenny doesn't just get An Education at Oxford, she gets a life education as well. David is a charming man–everyone is enamored. He's wealthy, smart, has fun,, and is quite a bit older than Jenny. Her parents only want the best for her, which seems to be an education, but they meet this shiny new person and this shiny new relationship which may be able to provide more for their daughter than any education ever could. I saw the relationship as one that was not only wrong due to their age, but also quite disturbing in how an older man would prey on a 16 year-old girl.

Jenny is an excellent student and devotes most of her time to her studies, learning as much as she can to be prepared for this magnificent education and future that her parents have planned. But with David it's different. She has fun, and isn't that all everyone wants to do? It's not sustainable though. Her grades start to slip and all of a sudden she loses interest in school altogether because she's found greener grass. A husband. "Money doesn't grow on trees" is a sentiment echoed from both Jenny's father and David, and on one side we have a man who is trying to provide for his family and the other is a thief who just wants all the luxuries in life without working for them.

The movie starts to expose these flaws about David and their relationship that we see quite clearly, but Jenny's young and naïve eyes gloss over. It's uneasy but she throws her future away anyway. David's promises and gifts get larger and larger as the web he spins becomes stronger and stronger until Jenny is stuck. She has nowhere to go but to him. It's not like she doesn't receive fair warning "I'm telling you to go to Oxford no matter what because if you don't, you'll break my heart," she just follows what she thinks is her heart instead. But who can blame her?

Then the bomb is dropped just as Jenny is promised this magnificent life. David is married and Jenny has flushed her education down the drain. This is her rock bottom and she really has nowhere to go but up with the help of her teacher. I'm not very old myself, but from the beginning I knew this was bad for Jenny, if only because of his age. He's had many relationships with other girls and Jenny is no different no matter how special he made her feel. She just has to pick up the pieces and start again. It was a coming-of-age story, but one that I almost which would have given more independence to the girl to show her own future and recognize that this relationship was wrong. But you live and you learn. "I feel old, but not very wise.