Directed by Lone Scherfig
This coming of age story takes place in the early 1960s, in the English town of Twickenham. Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig makes a departure from her darker Dogma films and brings Lynn Barber’s brief memoir to life. Sixteen year old Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is studying to get into Oxford University. In the time before the Beatles, Jenny’s conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour) support their daughter’s aspirations, even if it only means that she will be able to get a high calibre husband. However, when Jenny tests the limits of her middle class upbringing by dating 30 year old David (Peter Sarsgaard), plans to go to Oxford fade into the background.
Jenny desperately wants to be sophisticated and she speaks French and sneaks smokes with her school friends. The suave David is offering far much more than her spotty, stammering schoolboy admirer Graham (Matthew Beard). David takes her to orchestral performances, art auctions and smoky bars. He wins over her parents and manages to take her on weekend jaunts to Oxford and then Paris to celebrate her seventeenth birthday. He introduces her to his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Helen (Rosamund Pike) and the future he is offering is far more exciting than years of study and hard work.
Jenny’s English teacher (Olivia Williams) and headmistress (Emma Thompson) both try to convince Jenny that she is throwing away opportunities of a better life. Jenny reaches a turning point when David proposes marriage and despite the dire warnings, decides that the opportunity to enjoy life now is far better than any vague promises. Jenny is absolutely seduced by the charismatic David, her parents are persuaded that he is the best bet for their daughter and the audience is also seduced by David’s charms. That is until we find out the truth!
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