Bad Man, Good Movie

In “An Education,� Peter Saarsgard plays the ultimate con man, a sweet-seeming, smooth-talking predator whose target is English schoolgirls.

    Saarsgard is one of our most interesting young actors. He rarely takes roles that don’t challenge him and his audience. Among his many memorable parts was the unpopular, beleaguered National Review editor in “Shattered Glass,â€� who is vindicated in the end when he roots out the fraudulent title character, reporter and serial liar Stephen Glass.

   There is a happy ending in “An Educationâ€�which, like “Shattered Glass,â€� is based on a true story. But this happy ending is not reserved for David (Saarsgard). Instead, redemption of a sort comes for his victim, Jenny, played appealingly by Carey Mulligan.

    For his part, Saarsgard takes admirable risks in tackling a character somewhere between Humbert Humbert and Tiger Woods (sorry, I couldn’t resist). But there is a slightly disturbing distance to Saarsgard’s performance, partly due to the laconic undertone in his delivery.  The feeling is further heightened by his not entirely convincing British accent. (Some day I am going to write the definitive polemic against actors using accents. They are almost never necessary.)

    While David is introduced as kind, soft-spoken, and seemingly innocent, one gets the sense that Saarsgard had to stop short of sympathizing too much with his character. And the film is a bit heavy-handed in building up suspense of the “I’ve-got-a-secretâ€� variety. Somewhat paradoxically, in the movie’s denouement we discover with a jolt that David is even worse than we thought.

    Against Saarsgard’s suppressed performance, other cast members stand out.  Alfred Molina as Jenny’s blustering father is particularly good, turning in a funny, touching portrayal.

    Dominic Cooper, as David’s friend and partner in crime, Danny, is a riveting screen presence; just on looks alone he commands attention. Rosamund Pike (Danny’s girlfriend, Helen) and Olivia Williams, as the teacher who rescues Jenny, are also outstanding.

    It sounds strange to say that a movie about this man, based on a true story no less, is entertaining and even uplifting, but there it is. Credit Mulligan’s performance. Her character, at the center of the film, undergoes more than one astonishing transformation and somehow comes out the better for her “education.â€�

    This “Educationâ€� turns out to be  one of the most engaging films of the year.

 

   “An Educationâ€� is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual content, and for smoking. It is playing at the Moviehouse in Millerton.

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