An Education (2009)

In early 1960s England, a 16-year-old girl named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is wooed, romanced and whisked off to Paris and more by a much older man, 30-ish David (Peter Sarsgaard). It’s heaven to Jenny, who’s finishing a religious high school and looking forward to Oxford, then marriage and kids, and that’s it. (Certainly not a career.) With such a romance, it can’t end well, especially when Jenny learns David and his troupe of friends steal to pay the rent and jet to the Continent. Directed by Lone Scherfig and written by Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”), the film is a stunner. And not just in acting, with Mulligan giving a magical debut, and Sarsgaard continually being a grade A star. It races past the possibly icky child molestation drama by tossing clichés and most expectations on their ears: Jenny’s parents approve, while her teachers rightfully vehemently disapprove, even as they show bigotry (David is a Jew). As with Jenny, who faces few to no choices in a sexist society, and makes mistakes in trying to (wouldn’t you?) break free, “Education” is a complicated joyful, heartbreaking film. A