Movies

It's early 1960's London. Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) is a sheltered schoolgirl aiming to go to Oxford. She meets David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard) one rainy afternoon. He's a mysterious older man who opens her eyes to the exciting world outside her life at home. He's so slick that even her parents fall for him. Only there's more of a dark side to David. He does questionable things to keep his highlife. She joins him as her live inevitable slide downwards.It's annoying how easily deceived her father (Alfred Molina) is. He's more caricature than anything. There are some wonderful exchanges with Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams). Peter Sarsgaard is so obviously slimy that it's offputting. Carey Mulligan is absolutely lovely. She puts in a great performance.

In early 1960s England, a 16-year old schoolgirl becomes infatuated with a man nearly twice her age. The best thing about this handsomely made if unoriginal drama is the winning performance by Mulligan, a radiant young actress. American Sarsgaard seems an odd choice to play her British suitor, but he brings an appropriate creepiness to the role. Also notable are Molina, Williams, and Thompson. Although based on a memoir, it is hard to believe that the young lady's parents would be so gullible and idiotic as to let her go out of town for overnight stays with an older man they know nothing about. The screenplay is somewhat plodding, leading to a clichéd ending.

I understand that this film won a lot of awards and that all involved give a good performance and it probably deserves a lot of this praise.For me though the film didn't do very much. It plods along at quite a slow pace and I couldn't get over how compliant the parents of the Jenny character were to her being whisked off by a man twice her age.Carey Mulligan gives a good performance but her character does verge on being annoying, so it is difficult to empathise with her at some points.Overall, not a bad film,but I don't think it is one that is worth all the hype.