AN EDUCATION
One of my favorite Sundance movies of all time also happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time: Lone Scherfig's AN EDUCATION (2009) (trailer here). Adapted by Nick Hornby from a memoir by Lynn Barber, this film about a teen francophile on the precipice between girlhood and womanhood in the 1960s gave Carey Mulligan her big break, accompanied by other great performances from the likes of Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, and Emma Thompson. Upon meeting a handsome stranger named David (Sarsgaard), Mulligan's Jenny is swept out of her humdrum London schoolgirl life and into a world of glamor, sophistication, and most importantly, freedom—or so she thinks. The genius of this film is in how it seduces the viewer with such charm and style (just as David woos Jenny) but disrupts the facade just as easily. It's both a coming-of-age story and a staying-of-age story of sorts—a refreshingly nuanced look at youth and perceptions of maturity. Year after year I find myself coming back to this one, simultaneously as a wish-fulfilling comfort watch and as a reminder to slow down in life.
—Alicia Devereaux, Development Assistant
