An Education

It is hard to think of any other contemporary film that does the whole “plop an wide-eyed young’un into high(er) society and see what happens” shtick better than “An Education”. Saying that Carey Mulligan is a magnetic presence invites no controversy these days (a far cry from this film’s initial reception*), and her rapport with Sarsgaard indicates that he could be doing so much more with his talents than “Orphan” and “Green Lantern”. For as intriguing as the ride up is, though, the back half is dull and the film just sort of ends. Three quarters of a great film.

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