On the surface, “An Education” does not seem like a unique story.

The film is a coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old girl named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s London who has overbearing parents with dreams of their daughter going off to Oxford and becoming a proper, young lady.

Of course, those dreams are derailed when Jenny meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), an older man in his 20s who shows her what a lavish life she can live by taking her to concerts, plays and to Paris.

Sounds pretty cliché, right?

Wrong.

The story does what simpler films fail to do. It brings the viewer in as we see the dangers Jenny begins to find herself in. We see foreshadowing throughout the story, constantly worrying that David is too good to be true for Jenny and waiting for her to get her heart broken.

The star of the film is Mulligan. She carries herself with the uncertainty a teenage girl would have when the world turns awry. In multiple scenes, she reminds you of a young Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” when David’s older, female friend gives her a makeover.

The only thing unfortunate about Mulligan’s performance is that it overshadows that of Alfred Molina. Molina plays Mulligan’s overbearing father who soon befriends the smooth-talking, easily likable David. His powerful force in controlling his daughter takes over scenes early in the film, and it is surprising to see how quickly and easily he takes to an older man trying to woe his adolescent daughter.

Of course, that is what David’s character is all about.

Sarsgaard plays David wonderfully, displaying the type of bravado that is so hard to display on screen and making the viewer believe his self-confidence just as Jenny, her father and so many others do.

“An Education” is not perfect. The film tends to drag at times, and eventually one gets sick of seeing instance after instance where David is wooing Jenny at yet another extravagant location.

But it still works within the film. The relationship, as unlikely as it might be, continues to grow as David makes Jenny more and more confident in him.

The film has drawn much praise and many major award nominations, and rightfully so.

“An Education” shows how a young woman can get an education through more than studying her schoolwork dutifully. She acquires a life education that can be achieved through no other way than through her relationship with David.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7942 or

cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu