If you never do anything, you never become anyone

I don't know if anyone else ever does this, but sometimes, I'll buy a film on DVD even though I've not seen it, simply because something tells me that I'll like it. Most of the time this works out for the best, and I'm happy to add the DVD to my worryingly large collection, but occasionally I'm left with a DVD that I'll never, ever watch again. (Mulholland Drive anyone? WTF?!) Fortunately, yesterday, when I decided to buy An Education on a whim, (it's currently £8 in HMV) my gut feeling that this would be my kind of film, was spot on. I think a sign of a good film is one that stays with you for a while after you've watched it; sometimes, I watch a film and forget it as soon as it's finished, but after watching An Education last night, I just couldn't stop thinking about it and even this morning when I woke up, it popped into my head again.

Carey Mulligan as Jenny

In my mind, everything about An Education is perfect; the casting, the individual performances (especially Carey Mulligan, my goodness, that girl is TALENTED!) the cinematography, the actual story - it all just works so well. I'm not sure you can say a film is one of your favourites after only seeing it once, but I'm very tempted. It's based on Lynn Barber's memoir, also entitled An Education, and I loved the film so much that I bought the book on Amazon last night. I think a film like this is even more touching when you know it's actually based on a true story. Have you seen An Education? What did you think? I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't, it's just lovely and brilliant and funny and sad.

Dominic Cooper as Danny and Peter Sarsgaard (aka Mr Maggie Gyllenhaal!) as David

Of course, apart from the fact that the film itself is fantastic, one of the most striking things about it (aside from Dominic Cooper looking like a total dish. And I never use the word "dish".) is the visuals; the setting and costumes are fantastic and fully capture the era of the early 60s. As a huge fan of big-haired glamour and super girlie dresses, I fell a bit in love with Rosamund Pike's character, Helen. Pike must have had A LOT of fun playing that part, as Helen spends the entire film looking beautifully groomed, wearing incredible clothes and coming out with brilliantly (unintentionally) funny one liners.

Helen: "Someone told me that in about 50 years, no one will speak Latin, probably.

Not even Latin people."

It's a bloody good job that one of the big trends for this season is 'ladylike', (which I'll discuss at a later date) as this film has left me with an overwhelming urge to coiff my hair into a complex up-do, put on my prettiest dress and speak in a clipped RP accent. It's also left me with an overwhelming urge to go to Paris, but funds being as they are at the moment, I'll have to make do with sitting in my room with a baguette and my mini Eiffel Tower statue. Alors, c'est tragique, n'est pas?

[ images from the IMDb]