As written by Nick Hornby (the cheeky, observant novelist responsible for About A Boy and High Fidelity), An Education takes place in suburban London circa the 1960's and features Carey Mulligan as adorably cute Jenny - a clever, endearing, wise beyond her years high school student with aspirations of making it into Oxford. Actually, the Oxford dream really belongs to her father Jack, but like any good girl, Jenny wants to make daddy proud. Jenny's dream drastically changes, however, when she meets a potential soul mate in the form of an older and highly sophisticated David (played winningly by Peter Sarsgaard). A whirlwind romance quickly follows and quite surprisingly, even Jenny's parents take a liking to the new man in their daughter's young life. Before long however, it appears that David might be too good to be true.

There are two words that best describe the joy that is An Education. Those words are Carey Mulligan. There are other wonderful performances to be found in this outstanding film. There's Peter Sarsgaard's mysterious and charming David, Alfred Molina's stern but loving Jack, Emma Thompson's intellectual Headmistress, and Olivia Williams' wise Miss Stubbs, but they all play second fiddle to breakthrough star Carey Mulligan.

An Education is a charming, well crafted piece of film making and without giving too much away, it's title is a perfectly fitting one. While there are tough truths to be found in this picture, this is ultimately a feel good movie.

Carey Mulligan is a revelation here and I trust we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the near future. At the very least, expect her name to be mentioned when the 2009 Oscar nominations are announced.

Grade: A-