History Theatre / EducatingRita

* BittersweetEnding: Movie version: [[spoiler:Rita separates from Frank fondly, and has a chance for a much better paying job in London]].
%%* BlessedWithSuck: Rita's education is shown to be this.

* DownerEnding: At the end, [[spoiler:Rita is in an uncomfortable position: her education puts her above her working-class peers, but her accent and manner do not fit into the middle-class strata of society.]]

* ShipTease: In the final scene, Frank and Rita hug for just a little ''too'' long, and when they unlock their embrace, the film holds on them them in a two-character shot. Frank moves slightly forward as if to kiss, but it doesn't happen.

* ShipTease: In the final scene, Frank and Rita hug for just a little ''too'' long, and when they unlock their embrace, the film holds on them them in a two shot. Frank moves slightly forward as if to kiss, but it doesn't happen.

A film version was made in 1983 directed by Creator/LewisGilbert and starring Creator/JulieWalters, Creator/MichaelCaine, and Maureen Lipman.

A working-class girl from Liverpool wants to improve herself by studying literature. Her assigned Open University professor is Frank, an alcoholic. Rita struggles to maintain her relationships with her working class peers while trying to fit in with the educated middle-class. Rita's belief that the educated have better lives and are happier people is challenged throughout the script.

* BaitAndSwitch: In the penultimate scene, Rita tells Frank to sit down, and she's going to make him ten years younger as she takes off her jacket -- and starts cutting his hair.

* ImpliedLoveInterest: There appears to be some attraction between Frank and Rita, but it never amounts to anything.
** Rita scoffs at the notion that they could be lovers, when Frank suggests that it could be why her husband is so negative about her education - Frank is not as naive on that point as Rita perhaps is.
* InformedAbility: Subverted. We never hear Frank's poetry and we only have Rita and Trish's criticism to go on about it being good. Frank however thinks it's rubbish.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The original play includes a bit more discussion of the actual books, being set entirely in Frank's office. Shifting the action to the wider world cuts some dialogue about literature and the state of the academy. The lessons on ''Literature/HowardsEnd'' give Rita a strongly Marxist initial appraisal and a monologue about the loss of working-class culture, whereas she notably has no political identity in the film. Frank's rather inappropriate casual overtures toward Rita are dialed back, and his inability to maintain his relationship with Julia (and the complexity of having it be described past the fact from one side) is simplified by giving Julia an affair.

* BlessedWithSuck: Rita's education is shown to be this.

* {{Understatement}}: Rita's CharacterDevelopment is such that she really doesn't care about her final exam score at the end, more concerned Frank get on the plane because it's ready to leave. Frank forces her to look at her score, and she glances at it, saying, "I passed." Frank looks at it, and says, "You passed ''with distinction''!" Rita still is more concerned about Frank getting his butt back on the plane.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Rita's professor lectures her in a one-on-one session when she feels hopeless.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: It's apparently Frank's own fault that Julia cheated on him. As an alcoholic who spends too much time at work, she was apparently completely justified. No other character calls her out for this.

A film version was made in 1983 starring Creator/JulieWalters, Creator/MichaelCaine, and Maureen Lipman.

* TrueBlueFemininity: Rita is color-coded with lots of blue throughout the film.

A working-class girl from Liverpool (Creator/JulieWalters) wants to improve herself by studying literature. Her assigned Open University professor is Frank (Creator/MichaelCaine), an alcoholic. Rita struggles to maintain her relationships with her working class peers while trying to fit in with the educated middle-class. Rita's belief that the educated have better lives and are happier people is challenged throughout the script.

A working-class girl from Liverpool wants to improve herself by studying literature. Her assigned Open University professor is Frank, an alcoholic. Rita struggles to maintain her relationships with her working class peers while trying to fit in with the educated middle-class. Rita's belief that the educated have better lives and are happier people is challenged throughout the script.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: After Frank's drunken escapes, the university sends him to Australia for two years; being a famed poet and [[UltimateJobSecurity having too much tenure]], he can't be fired.