Line #58 Film/AnEducation


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aneducation_6300.jpg]]
2
3	A 2009 British {{coming of age}} {{drama\|tropes}} film, set in [[TheSixties 1961]] UsefulNotes/{{London}}.
4
5	Sixteen-year-old Jenny (Creator/CareyMulligan) is attending school, preparing for her A-levels and hoping to go to Oxford. One day, she meets an older man named David (Creator/PeterSarsgaard), who charms her into a romance, distracting from her schoolwork. David introduces her to a whole new world out of her little suburb--a world of nightclubs, auctions for beautiful paintings, racing, and romance. Jenny soon has to make a choice between the academic world she's always prepared for--and the world of ''fun.''
6
7	But little does she know how much David is [[BeneathTheMask hiding]]...
8
9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of:
11
12	* AgeGapRomance: Jenny is sixteen and has a relationship with David who appears to be in his thirties. Her parents are not too happy about it, but he soon charms them completely and they allow Jenny to date him. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. [[spoiler:It turns out he's already married. She tracks down his house and gets to meet David's wife who is shattered. Not by David's cheating, she's used to that; she's shattered by Jenny's youth.]]
13	* AllThatGlitters: Nearing the climax of the film, [[spoiler:Jenny chooses to take the easy way out by dropping out of school and marrying David. However, it is revealed that David is already married, and he runs out on Jenny when she finds out.]]
14	* AscendedFangirl: When David takes the francophile Jenny to Paris.
15	* BeneathTheMask: David impresses everyone as charismatic, cultured and suave. [[spoiler:In reality, he's not only a shameless, selfish conman but a married man who suffers no guilt from repeatedly cheating on his wife and ruining his family life by preying on naive schoolgirls.]]
16	* BetaCouple: Helen and Danny. Subverted in that Danny frequently seems annoyed by [[DumbBlonde Helen's]] airheaded nature, but they're still together in the end.
17	* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Jenny's dad obviously dislikes Jenny's suitor Graham and is initially a bit wary of David, but David's charm easily persuades him.
18	* BrainyBrunette: Jenny has brown hair and she is a genuine smart cookie, though still naive, which is understandable because she's 16. This is a contrast to DumbBlonde Helen.
19	* BreakTheCutie: Jenny starts the film as a kind, naive bookworm eager to explore the world and not spend her whole life studying. [[spoiler:Discovering David's true nature leaves her shattered and in tears, knowing that she pushed away loved ones and (almost) ruined her chances at an education because of a liar.]]
20	* BridalCarry: David carries Jenny in his arms shortly before [[spoiler:they have sex for the first time.]]
21	* BumblingDad: Jack is easily swayed by David's charisma despite his doddering attempts to keep Jenny in school and out of trouble. [[spoiler:After David's deception is revealed]] he apologizes to Jenny for not paying closer attention.
22	%% * ButtMonkey: Graham, whom Jenny's father refers to as a "wandering Jew" (whether [[AmbiguouslyJewish he's actually a Jew]] is beside the point).
23	* ChekhovsClassroom: The discussions of ''Literature/JaneEyre'' in Jenny's English class.
24	* ChekhovsGun:
25	** David's letters in the glove compartment of his car are shown several times before it's importance is revealed.
26	** David helps out a black family move into an apartment. Jenny sees an old woman looking out of the window. Both are plot-relevant.
27	%% * TheCharmer[=/=]ChivalrousPervert: David has signs of both.
28	* ComingOfAgeStory: Jenny starts off as a bright but naive girl eager to explore the world, and thinks she's finally getting an education of a different sort by being involved with the older, cultured, charming David. [[spoiler:Though the true lesson is the importance of education, wisdom and self-reliance when the truth about David is revealed.]]
29	* ContrivedCoincidence: Jenny meeting David. [[spoiler:Not so much when it's revealed he actually lives down the street from her.]]
30	* DanceOfRomance: David and Jenny, falling in love, are waltzing in the street and they later dance in Paris.
31	* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Jenny doesn't get the glamorous life with David she'd dreamed of, though she is shown with a boyfriend when she makes it to Oxford.]]
32	* DoggedNiceGuy: Graham to Jenny, and though she originally reciprocates his affection she grows cool to him after getting involved with David. After his awkward appearance at her 17th birthday party, he's never seen again.
33	* DoubleEntendre: When Jenny expresses an interest in seeing France, David replies that he'd love to take her, and there's "so much" he wants her to see. Cue Danny and Helen exchanging an uncomfortable glance.
34	* DoubleMeaningTitle: The title can refer to Jenny's school education, which she gains an appreciation for by the end of the film, or her education of life, which she thinks she's getting by hanging around the cultured David and his friends. [[spoiler:Though the real education is her naive worldview being rocked by TheReveal of David's true character and her growing up a bit.]]
35	* DumbBlonde: Helen. She's not particularly bright and has little use for education and culture and looks down at anything unglamorous with derision, much to the cultured Danny's frustration.
36	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:David turns out to be a lying scumbag, and Jenny finds herself without her test results and without an admittance letter to Oxford. She chooses to work hard to get there despite it all, gets accepted, and moves on to what looks like a pleasant and accomplished life.]]
37	* EducationMama: Papa rather than Mama, but Jenny's dad approves of Jenny's intentions of going to Oxford, and he pressures her even more to study and work on her dream. Ideally, she should be only studying and improving her Latin, and as far as music goes, her playing the cello is just fine, none of the French modern music nonsense! He simply doesn't want her to be distracted by anything inappropriate. However, he's also fairly kind and understanding, and Jenny's mom knows how to influence him.
38	* {{Ephebophile}}: Jenny is only 16 when David takes an interest in her. Even creepier, it seems that he pursues her not just because he's a deviant, but because he knows at her young age, she'll be naive and foolish enough to never question or doubt anything he says or does, as demonstrated by how quickly she buys his and Danny's feeble explanation for their thievery.
39	* {{Escapism}}: Jenny's attraction to the cultured, traveled David is based in her reluctance to follow what she considers to be the only two options at home: continue her education and be bored working forever, or get married and become a bored housewife. Though the film ends on something of an AntiEscapismAesop [[spoiler:as Jenny reels from the shock of David's true nature and realizes the importance of an education.]]
40	* EverybodyKnewAlready:
41	** Rather, they didn't even ''try'' to keep it a secret. Seriously, when your headmistress knows [[spoiler:not only that you are planning on losing your virginity, but when, to whom, and roughly ''where'',]] you are doing something very wrong.
42	** [[spoiler:Helen and Danny, regarding David's history with other girls and women. Though it doesn't seem to bother either of them until it happened to Jenny.]]
43	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Jenny wears her hair in sophisticated updos when she's with David and his friends, but goes back to her usual girlish hairstyle both when she's at home or at school, and once she discovers his deception and the relationship ends, representing the fact that for all her attempts at seeming grown-up, that she is still really a child.
44	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Frequent discussion of ''Literature/JaneEyre'' in Jenny's English class. [[spoiler:Mr. Rochester was keeping his wife a secret as well.]]
45	* FourthDateMarriage: [[spoiler: Within roughly weeks (if not months), David pops the question to Jenny.]]
46	* GratuitousFrench: Used often by Jenny, out of the blue and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] bluntly by Helen:
47	-->'''Helen:''' You have a French conversation teacher? Is that why you suddenly speak French? For no reason?
48	* GreenEyedMonster: David claims Danny is this when he doesn't seem too pleased by [[spoiler:Jenny's engagement to David]]; Danny just didn't want Jenny to get hurt because both Helen and he knew [[spoiler:that David was already married.]]
49	* HardWorkMontage: Jenny studying to get into Oxford [[spoiler:after re-entering school following the fallout with David.]]
50	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Even after learning of David's shady business, Jenny continues to be strung along by David until the climax. Her father also, as he admits that he heard something that should have tipped him off to the fact that David wasn't completely honest, but he chose to ignore it, having himself been so drawn in by David's flashy lifestyle.
51	* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Jenny is attracted to David and his adventurous life, full of concerts, jazz music, and parties, in comparison to her apparent "boring" life, full of attending school, studying for Oxford, and reading Latin.
52	* IronicEcho: Of sorts. David takes Jenny to Paris, a place she has always wanted to go to, as she loves French books, films, and music. [[spoiler:At the end of the film, Jenny's boyfriend said he wants to take her to Paris, and Jenny narrates that she acted surprised, as if she had never been there before.]]
53	* {{Irony}}: Jenny is attracted to David because he's a fun, exciting alternative to a "boring" life of studying and teaching. [[spoiler:When it's revealed he's actually married with children and has a long string of schoolgirl paramours, she realizes that the affairs were ''his'' version of a fun, exciting alternative to his "boring" family life.]]
54	* ItsAllAboutMe: [[spoiler:David has ''no'' concern for the people around him, whether it's his neglected family or the girls he seduces and abandons. When Jenny finds out his secret he refuses to accept responsibility for what he did and runs away. Even when he's trying to do what he thinks is the right thing (in a deleted scene from the end of the film when he finds Jenny at Oxford) he responds to her very justified anger at the way he treated her with "Please don't be unkind," and honestly seems to believe that she'd still want to marry him after she's rebuilt her life following his betrayal and gotten to attend university.]]
55	* JerkassHasAPoint: The headmistress has no business butting into Jenny's personal life, but she's not entirely wrong to try and warn her about her behavior [[spoiler:and getting too involved with David]], especially considering how everything turned out.
56	%% * JewishAndNerdy[=/=]NiceJewishBoy: Graham. That is, if he's [[AmbiguouslyJewish really Jewish]].
57	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:David never faces any consequences for his actions in the film proper, though a DeletedScene in which he encounters Jenny at Oxford shows that his thieving ways finally caught up with him and that he spent some time in prison.]]
58	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Whenever a French song plays in the background, it's most likely this.
59	* {{Leitmotif}}: A recurring [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RztnZAygXxs theme]] played throughout the film plays hints to David and his schemes.
60	* LiquidCourage: Jenny mentions that David is engaging in this before coming in to confess to her parents that he's already married. She bitterly and sarcastically adds on "''Stolen'' liquid courage, from the looks of it," having finally seen the light about ''all'' of David's behavior.
61	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: David is a gender-flipped version for Jenny. [[spoiler:Later deconstructed, when it turns out that David is not all that he seems.]]
62	%% * MomentKiller: [[ItMakesSenseInContext The banana]].
63	* MoodWhiplash: Several scenes. Often, whenever the music changes tone is a hint to David's shady schemes.
64	* MotiveDecay: An in-universe example. Jenny wants to attend Oxford so that she can study and read English. After being exposed to David and his much more attractive life (and at the approval of her parents), Jenny gives this up [[spoiler:to marry David, as he can already give her the life she has always wanted.]] This decision comes back to bite her.
65	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:When Jenny discovers that David is a married man, she is devastated, as she dropped out of school and didn't take her A-levels to be with him.]]
66	* NeverTrustATrailer: The segment that the trailer showed of Emma Thompson's character made her seem like a rather stern but not unkind mentor--"You must think I'm a ruined woman." "Oh, no. You're not a woman." Not so in the actual movie.
67	* OldMaid: Miss Stubbs. Jenny rubs her face into it [[spoiler:until she finds out David's deception and reconciles with her, realizing Miss Stubbs has a perfectly content life.]]
68	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: While Jenny and Danny are dancing, they have a discussion about art. Or at least, this is what Jenny thinks. Danny is really subtly warning Jenny that David isn't what he seems.
69	* PlotSensitiveSnoopingSkills: [[spoiler:Jenny is so infatuated with David that it never occurs to her that he might already be married.]]
70	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:David is married.]]
71	* RewatchBonus: Helen and Danny's discomfort with David's flirtations with Jenny gets this when you realize that [[spoiler:not only did they know he was married, Jenny isn't the first girl he's done this to.]]
72	* RightForTheWrongReasons: Jenny's teacher is right to be suspicious of David, and to advise Jenny against marrying him. Unfortunately, it's because David is Jewish.
73	* StalkerWithACrush: Assumed, but not intended. [[spoiler:In the final scene with Jenny and her new boyfriend biking around the Oxford campus, David's car can be seen parked on the side of the street. This is remnant from the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen longer original ending]] in which David tries to win Jenny back. Carey Mulligan and director Lone Scherfig joke on the DVD commentary that only a few people actually catch this on the first viewing and those who do catch it assume that David has resorted to stalking her.]]
74	* ThoseTwoGuys: Jenny's friends, Hattie and Tina. They're a great GreekChorus for Jenny's ego, hanging on every detail of her romance, but then either she dumps them or they dump her because they're [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never seen again.]] Though, it might be because [[spoiler:she dropped out of school, so it wasn't necessary for them to be seen again.]] A deleted scene would have shown Jenny apologising to them for being a bad friend after The Reveal.
75	* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: [[spoiler:Jenny accepts David's proposal despite only knowing him for a matter of weeks or months, deciding to drop out of school and not attend university. Unsurprisingly, the older, cunning conman turns out to be hiding a wife and children, not to mention the string of other paramours he's abandoned.]]
76	* UptightLovesWild: Jenny and David's relationship at first; she's a lower-class, studious schoolgirl while he's a rogueish, cultured conman who can show her everything she's ever dreamed of. She even tells off her headmistress and teacher because she would rather have a lavish, exciting life with David than live a "boring," studious life going to university. [[spoiler:Only when his deception is revealed, and she realizes that deceiving paramours is ''his'' version of fun, does she finally realize the importance of her education.]]
77	* WhatTheHellHero:
78	** Jenny pulls this twice on David for his shady business (but she gets over it quickly) and [[spoiler:when she finds out about his wife]]; she also pulls this on Danny, who always knew about the latter. Danny counters this by reminding Jenny that she didn't think too much of their shady business either.
79	** Jenny's teacher and headmistress both question Jenny on her romance with an older guy on more than one occasion. And Jenny pushes right back.
80	* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Jenny seems sure that she's wise and pretty clever for a girl of her age. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope She really isn't.]]]] And she lampshades it in this exchange with Miss Stubbs:
81	-->'''Miss Stubbs:''' You sound very old and wise.
82	-->'''Jenny:''' I feel old, but not very wise.
83	* AWolfInSheepsClothing: David. A charming, cultured man who resorts to con jobs to keep up his lavish lifestyle [[spoiler:and preys on schoolgirls despite being married with children]].
84	* WrongGuyFirst: David is Jenny's first real relationship. [[spoiler:He turns out to be a married serial cheater, but the epilogue implies she's had satisfying relationships in Oxford.]]

Context Film / AnEducation