Journalist Lynn Barber, known as Demon Barber for her razor-witted interviews, caused quite a stir when the memoir of her teenage years in early-60s London appeared in Granta magazine in 2003 and revealed her seduction as a 16 year old by a conman in his 30s. Now Nick Hornby has turned the memoir into the film An Education. Newcomer Carey Mulligan captivates as bright 16-year-old Twickenham schoolgirl Jenny, whose mix of worldliness and naivety allows her to be charmed by Peter Sarsgaard’s louche older man and swept up into his glamorous but rackety world. You could argue that the central relationship ought to seem sleazier, but the performances are spot on (with impressive support from Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams and Rosamund Pike, who very nearly steals the film) and director Lone Scherfig perfectly captures the look and mood of drab, pre-swinging 1961 London.
On general release from 30th October.
