An Educated Sophisticate

Here I am snuggled in on this cold Victorian night with an Ovaltine beside me while wishing I was having a Plymouth Gin Martini in a beautiful Orrefors crystal glass while listening to Nina Simone.

I'm pining for the Martini because I've just come home from seeing An Education again. I first saw this film last September at the Toronto Film Festival. It was on my must see list because it's directed by Lone Scherfig who set me on my path to love all things Danish – oh alright only Danish films, Mads Mikkelsen and Aquavit (for my Trident cocktails of course!).

Scherfig directed Italian For Beginners and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself. She is a rarity, a compassionate storyteller and true humanist. She grasps the subtle and when she puts it on screen she can make your heart ache, break or capitulate. She is the goddess of humour and the bringer of all things sly. Okay, okay you get it – I adore her work and An Education is no exception.

A young girl falls for an older sophisticated man, a story told and retold but here the girl is as sophisticated as our leading man but not as worldly. Watch for two scenes in particular.
1) Dad having a temper over the costs that he has to bear for his daughter.
2) The same set up repeated but with the gentleman caller in Dad's place.
It's dynamite when you catch the replay and get your head around Scherfig's thoughts on human relationships. A constant in her films is the lack of moral judgement no matter how bad the behaviour - there's an acceptance of human choices and an understanding that we're all trying to trod this path the best we can. And before I nod off I must ask:
Where did she find that actress?? WOW.