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Lone Scherfig’s AN EDUCATION premiered at Sundance 12 years (and a day), ago and Carey Mulligan’s performance is one of my favourite “a star is born” moments in 21st century film. And what a star.
I wrote a brief explanation for @nathanielr, a few years ago, on how the film immediately establishes Carey as a STAR in early moments. It’s such a charismatic performance, while feeling so free of affectation.
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2014/4/10/april-showers-an-education.html
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2014/4/10/april-showers-an-education.html
I saw AN EDUCATION in my first year of undergrad and related so hard to the ambivalence (naïveté) that Jenny, a formerly “gifted” student felt about the possibilities and limits of education. Nick Hornby’s script swerves away from the places you expect.
Carey’s been good, very good and even GREAT since then (WILDLIFE, MUDBOUND, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, SKYLIGHT) but there’s something about her Jenny Mellor that’s such a perfect union of performer and character.
And Jenny us great indicator of what she does this year in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. There’s no quintessential Carey Mulligan type of role. She doesn’t have a calling card. Instead she plays the internalised feelings of her characters in ways that sneak up on you.
Even moments that could play as big across her filmography are interrupted by the rhythm of her interpretations which often resist any indications of bigness. (Bigness can be great but it’s not where her strengths lie.)
Her unwillingness to go BIG is probably why she didn’t get the Hollywood career many expected after 2009. But she’s been working consistently in a variety of roles, portraying the quiet moments that often go unnoticed.
I really think she’s the actress of her generation.
I really think she’s the actress of her generation.
