An Education

I was lucky to catch this film after my STPM as it wasn't even aired in Malaysian Cinemas. Haha. I got it through the traditional illegal way. (my friend downloaded it =p). This is a very unique "coming of age" movie. In the London suburbs of 1961, life was pleasant, but not exciting. It first introduced the lead character whom is Jenny, a 16-year-old girl. She is bright, pretty and on her way to be accepted into Oxford University.
But her uneventful life changed when she met David, a man almost twice her age. He soon charmed her and they began a romantic relationship. David introduced her to his friends and together, they explored cultural activities. He was able to convince her parents by going all out to prove that his interest in her is not improper. They allowed him to take her to concerts, dinners and even to Paris. Back then in the 1960's, going to Paris was a very exotic thing to do. The colours soon came to Jenny's life and she was the talk among her friends in school for dating an older man and being able to see Paris.
"Silly schoolgirls are always getting seduced by glamorous older men."

Jenny soon got accustomed to the life David and his companions showed her. Along the way, she began to question the true meaning of life. Is life all about studying and working hard to be happy? Doing the same routined boring things every day and following the norm of society. Is there more to life than these? Instead of studying all the difficult studies, she could have fled to Paris and experience love living the life she had been dreaming of. David could easily offer to her all those.
"Studying is hard and boring. Teaching is hard and boring. So, what you're telling me is to be bored, and then bored, and finally bored again, but this time for the rest of my life? This whole stupid country is bored! There's no life in it, or color, or fun! It's probably just as well the Russians are going to drop a nuclear bomb on us any day now. So my choice is to do something hard and boring, or to marry my... Jew, and go to Paris and Rome and listen to jazz, and read, and eat good food in nice restaurants, and have fun! It's not enough to educate us anymore Ms. Walters. You've got to tell us why you're doing it."

When David proposed, she made the decision to forgo her studies. She dropped out from school. Okay, now the following will be spoilers. Jenny later learned of David's way of making money. Going to concerts, fancy dinners and art galleries, she realized they were all just a temporary phase. One day while taking Jenny and her parents for dinner, Jenny found a stack of letters in David's car and she discovered his deepest secret. She began to regret her decisions but all seemed too late already as she had already dropped out from school. All her classmates had already sat for the A levels and on their way to their respective universties. But of course, at the end, there is always a savior. None other than Jenny's class teacher. =)

Okay, to summarize, the reason why I love this movie apart from the vintage style, music and breathtakingly beautiful settings (Paris!!!), it conveys a very deep meaning especially for coming of age teens. This is the movie which I can really relate to. Although I'm no longer a teen but I'm still a "coming of age" adult. Haha. Sometimes, we wonder is life really worth living if it's the same old typical and boring ones every day. Having to study, going for exams, all the stress, they are all really weighing us down. We definitely reflect once in a while wondering, will doing all those make us happy? How wonderful my life would have been if I could meet a man who would show me places, bring me on tours, bring excitement and adventure into my life. Instead of having to study the amazingly bulky syllabus and going for exams. It's too difficult.

But there is a beautiful message being laid out from the movie. The truth? "There is no shortcut to achieve the life we want. School, study is sometime boring and hard, but we get educated, we learnt the meaning of life from it." =). This is very true. There is really no easy way in life. Everything is difficult. The only good things that come from easy ways are only temporary. By going through the hard way, we learn. We learn great values of life. =)

Here is the trailer of the movie. Highly recommended folks ;)