My Reasons For Choosing An Education..

Firstly i thought i should mention that the other film i watched was the Kite Runner. The reasons for which i have chosen An Education over it are simple. I felt as if An Education was a much more relatable film for me as it delves deeply into the world of teenage girls and the troubles and difficulties we face. Not only this but i found the Kite Runner to be that a very different world to mine. Although it is one of my favourite films i feel as if their are many aspects to it i do not understand yet or perhaps i will never understand. I do find its cultural differences to mine to be very fascinating and something i would like to find out more about. But i feel as if An Education led me to a lot of Social and Historical information that i could understand much more quickly and relate to in certain ways.

I also found the Kite Runner a very sad film and some aspects of it really distressed me. I feel as if An Education was a much more light hearted film and just like the Kite Runner it captured me emotionally. But the Kite Runner made me feel very angry for people in this world to be treated so badly and by their country and their own friends was just horrible. Whereas An Education is the sort of film to sweep you off your feet and keep you in a very safe and happy bubble whilst watching the film. I suppose this is why i chose it over the Kite Runner after all as it made me feel comfortable. Where as the Kite Runner would have been probably a much more interesting film to write about i feel as if you have to be in a certain mood to watch films. At one point in your life you may be engrossed by horrors the next ROM Com's. I guess if i was writing this at a different time i would have chosen the Kite Runner, but i do believe movies suit your mood and An Education was a brilliant mood lifter for me as it cheered me right up. I suppose i just didn't want to focus on all of the negative things in the world . Although the Kite Runner is a brilliant film that is addressed to people in a strong way, it showed a lot of the negative side of the world which is inspiring as if it is just one big wake up call for everyone.

Overall i chose An Educated as it was very relatable and because it takes you on an emotional roller coaster. Also i think that my own fascination with old England came in to play whilst choosing between the films as i found 1960's England to be a very interesting place. Lastly i chose An Education because it was a beautifully crafted coming of age film.

Critical Reception..

An Education saw many great reviews and receptions not only from audiences but from critics. A lot of tabloids and newspapers gave five stars these include Daily Mail, The Times, Sunday Mirror and magazines such as EllE and GRAZIA gave the film four stars. They gave very good quotes to the movie aswell such as The Times said it was "A wonderful, life-affirming picture". Also their were similar quotes from newspapers such as the Sunday Mirror they said "The best British film of the year".

The Telegraph online said "An Education is a delightful, resonant film which introduces bright prospect Carey Mulligan". Peter Bradshaw from the Guardian online gives the film four stars and says "The lovely performance from Mulligan makes it a very enjoyable film". Rotten Tomatoes.com say "An Education is a charming coming-of-age tale powered by the strength of relative newcomer Carey Mulligan's standout performance". They also go on to give the film four and a half stars. The Times online said that it was"Perhaps the best film of the year - certainly so far - this is a movie with A-plus levels in biology and humanity." They also gave the film five stars.

An Education was nominated for 3 Oscars, the film won 18 awards and was nominated for 45 awards. Apart of the 18 winning awards was one BAFTA and one British Independant Film Award.

Contextual Information On Film..

Historical Information On The Film.. The film An Education is based in the early 1960's their is a lot of historical content in the film. As i believe the way in which women are treated in the film speaks a lot about the time in which it is based. As women were treated very differently in the 60's to what they are today. Also the school that Jenny (lead character) attends shows the audience a lot about the way of life back then and the sorts of rules that were applied to schools in the 60's. For example music was on the time table as they found it very important for children to be educated within musical instruments as it was a sort of indication for intelligence back then. Also the fact that she went to an all girls school implies perhaps that single sex schools were very popular schools in the 1960's. Also the relationship Jenny had with her parents speaks not only about her own family relationships but it also represents many other young girls relationships with their parents. As the 60's was very much a different time to today as parents where deemed to be much stricter. Jenny's relationship with her parents does not only fall under the social information on the film but it says volumes on how young ladies were supposed to act back then and the treatment they received from their parents. Also the expectations certain parents had for their children this falls under historical information as perhaps at time a lot of middle class parents had similar expectations for their children.

Social Information On The Film.. I find that the social information of the film falls under the fact that men and women were treated vastly different in the 60's. As for instance the lessons in which girls were taught back in the 60's still were not exactly the same curricular as the boys. Not only this but it was still as if the parents had a massive say in who their daughter married and dated, this sort of thing falls under social information as parents do have a lot of say in who your friends with or not. Socially Jenny is bound to a few girl mates but her parents do not discard boys it is still under their control. I found that socially this film has a lot of content that is far different to today as Jenny hangs out with much older people its clear that this sort of social behaviour was acceptable then as today their would be much uproar if a young girl was acquaintances with an older man or perhaps dating him many parents of today would find it outrageous. This matter shows a vast difference the film plays on today's social status and that of the 60's. I found quite a few comparisons to today's world socially amongst the film such as David the man Jenny falls in love with actually already has a wife. This has a lot of connections with the present as it still is socially worrying for a man of importance to be found out as a cheat. Also that his lover to be that of a younger woman is also socially shocking and causes many to be disgusted. Also socially casts a very bad shadow upon his wife as if shes not good enough it all causes a lot of gossip. I found also Jenny's situation in the affair to be comparative of the present as the lover's always get thought of last. As if they do not matter and that their are treated rather unjust especially if they did not know the man was married. Also they seem to get much of the blame and can become socially rejected from people.

The director.. Lone Scherfig

Lone Wrede Scherfig was born in 1959 in Denmark, scherfig graduated from the Danish Film School in 1984 and had her debut as a film director with Kaj's fødselsdag (The Birthday Trip) in 1990. But Scherfig did not hit international success until 2000 with her film Italian for beginners which was a romantic comedy that won 20 awards and an amazing 21 nominations. What might have made the film so successful was that attracted people due to the fact they had abolished props, lights and costumes from the set of the film. The film was an overall success with critics and audiences around the world. This success made Scherfig's next film be her first ever English-language film which was entitled "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself" which was released in 2002 and shot in Scotland.

Scherfig is not only a director as she has worked as a crew member, assistant director and a writer. Scherfig's great uncle was Hans Scherfig who was a celebrated writer for his works from the 1970's. Lone Scherfig's work has been described as subtle and the she really delves into the characters to express their impulses of being evil and good. There is also said to be no strain on her plots, and her techniques consist of light humor amongst tragedy within her characters. Scherfig's characters are described as eccentric people. Scherfigs has now moved on to her next film which is entitled "One Day" which is a romantic comedy and is currently being filmed.

Trailer For An Education..

This is the trailer for the 2009 film An Education from director Lone Scherfig.