LFF ’09: ‘An Education’ and ‘Bluebeard’

Tuesday at the LFF brought one of the biggest disappointments of the festival so far, as well as a film that, almost to our surprise, matched the very high expectations we had for it. Because it’s more fun to write about good movies, we’ll start with the latter — Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” which has carried a steadily growing buzz ever since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January. Other writers who caught it earlier in the year both loved it, and we’re inclined to agree.

A coming-of-age movie in the truest tradition, it follows 16-year-old Jenny, an ambitious, hard-working schoolgirl (based on journalist Lynn Barber, whose autobiographical Granta Magazine article of the same name forms the basis for the film), who falls into a relationship with a much older man (Peter Sarsgaard), and is sucked into his slightly sleazy world, at the possible expense of the Oxford education her parents have long planned for her. Novelist Nick Hornby, who wrote the script, admirably lets his voice disappear, letting the characters speak for themselves, and Danish helmer Lone Scherfig (whose “Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself” is underseen and undervalued) treats the material perfectly, bringing a vital outsider’s eye to the oppressive 1960s British suburban setting.

Much of the praise has so far gone to rising star Carey Mulligan, best known for a small role in Joe Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice,” and for a central role in the best episode of the BBC’s “Doctor Who” reboot. She’s already the front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar, and it’s more than deserved: Mulligan is almost impossibly good. She has one of the most expressive faces we’ve ever seen, seemingly genetically engineered for film acting, and is able to show all the confusions of adolescence in one glimpse of Jenny’s face. The character is at times old beyond her years, and at others obnoxious and aggravating in her immaturity, but she’s always compelling and sympathetic, and it’s probably the most promising, exciting debut from a young actor since Kate Winslet in “Heavenly Creatures.”

The actors around her are equally good, for the most part. Alfred Molina, playing Jenny’s father, has also received awards buzz, and again, fully justifies it, in a scene late in the picture, delivered to Mulligan through a doorway, which brought a lump to the throat the size of a bowling ball. Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike, neither of whom have particularly blown us away before, give excellent performances, and special mention should go to two of the smaller female roles: Olivia Williams, who epitomises every great teacher you ever had in a few brief scenes, and Sally Hawkins (“Happy Go Lucky”), who has a rich cameo towards the end. The one slightly weak link is Peter Sarsgaard, normally one of our favorite actors, but, like Paul Schneider in “Bright Star,” he really struggles with the accent here, tainting an otherwise very good performance. But otherwise, it’s a stylish, moving and deeply pleasurable experience, and one of the very best of the year. [A]

Catherine Breillat’s “Bluebeard” was one of our most anticipated movies of the festival, with director Catherine Breillat coming off one of her best movies to date, “The Last Mistress,” and taking on an Angela Carter-style psychosexual reenvisioning of a classic fairy tale. Unfortunately, it was a fairly major disappointment, with a somewhat shoddy narrative, a strangely coy feel, (considering it comes from Breillat) and some inexcusably low-rent production values.

We didn’t hate it altogether – it has a great deal in common with another picture from this year, also from a famous provocateur — Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist.” In places, both films are unexpectedly, slyly funny (and the joke will be missed by many…) but this film, like Von Trier’s, is pretty much a mess. Breillat gives the movie a framing device involving two young girls reading the story of “Bluebeard” which is almost entirely extraneous: it seems to be present just to pad out the film’s already brief 80 minute running time, and to deliver a final twist which seems cruel and unnecessary.

The performances are fine, if unremarkable, but the digital photography is ill-suited to the material, particularly considering the dreadful costume designs — an early scene, a party at Bluebeard’s house, is laughably bad, with extras seemingly in clothes from totally disparate periods and styles. It’s depressing that Breillat can’t get proper funding (assuming that’s the case, but we can’t believe that it was an artistic choice), but there’s really no excuse for this, and it’s mirrored throughout the film. As our review from last week pointed out, the editing is barely competent on top of this. We’re sure that Breillat will bounce back from this, but it’s still disappointing to see her so far from her best. [C-]