“An Education”, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, is a peculiar movie.
A schoolgirl (Carey Mulligan) falls in love with an older con man (Peter Sarsgaard), at that time she doesn’t know yet that her lover is a con man.
The schoolgirl comes from what I assume is a typical English middleclass family. She has two options, going to Oxford or marrying a rich man.
Nowadays a man who is in his thirties would be sent to jail for starting an affair with a 16-year-old girl, but when Lynn Barber was young times were different.
The main problem is not his age nor his fraudulent activity, but (spoiler alert) the fact that he is married and has a child.
Soon after the schoolgirl discovers this, her con man disappears from the movie and she decides to go to Oxford.
Schoolgirls of all countries, have an affair with an older con man, after that go to a good university.
If I’m not mistaken that is the message “An Education” is trying to convey.