'Educating Rita' is one of those films that, unfortunately, most people will never see. A lack of recognition in Britain is most likely to blame, along with the audacity to step outside the typical idea of British-films-made-for-the-US. If you do get the chance to see this film, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
It's a film that will certainly pull at your heartstrings, but never actually gets soppy or acknowledges what the audience feels. The two leads, (played brilliantly by Michael Caine and Julie Walters) are both trapped within two very different worlds. Walters - as hairdresser/student Susan/Rita - is suffering a life of bland working-class domesticity in 1980s Liverpool, unwilling to have a child until she better understands herself. Caine - as university professor Frank - is disillusioned with the academic life, surrounded by pretentious students and constantly dependent on alcohol to see him through the day. This could so easily have been turned into a cheesy love-fest, in which both characters fall head over heels for each other and face their troubles neatly and quickly in order to dash off into a new life together. Thankfully, Willy Russell is made of stronger stuff and delivers a story that is witty, clever and poignant without ever going cold.
It's a film that will certainly pull at your heartstrings, but never actually gets soppy or acknowledges what the audience feels. The two leads, (played brilliantly by Michael Caine and Julie Walters) are both trapped within two very different worlds. Walters - as hairdresser/student Susan/Rita - is suffering a life of bland working-class domesticity in 1980s Liverpool, unwilling to have a child until she better understands herself. Caine - as university professor Frank - is disillusioned with the academic life, surrounded by pretentious students and constantly dependent on alcohol to see him through the day. This could so easily have been turned into a cheesy love-fest, in which both characters fall head over heels for each other and face their troubles neatly and quickly in order to dash off into a new life together. Thankfully, Willy Russell is made of stronger stuff and delivers a story that is witty, clever and poignant without ever going cold.
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