Mulligan makes her move

Don’t say I didn’t give you the heads-up on this one. Looking over the Sundance lineup last month, I singled out Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” as a title about which I was particularly excited — not least because it stars Carey Mulligan, a lovely young Brit for whom I’ve been predicting big things for some time.

Well, once in a blue moon, I’m right.

“An Education,” a 1960s-set coming-of-age drama penned by Nick Hornby, recently bowed at Sundance, and while the notices for the film itself are warm, the real buzz centers on 23 year-old Mulligan. A star, it appears, is born. Jeff Wells was first out the gate, and it’s fair to say that he’s besotted with both star and film — which he reckons we may still be talking about this time next year:

The best film of the Sundance Film Festival, a finely tuned and deeply engaging film by regular popcorn-watching standards, an award-calibre drama that will definitely be in contention at the end of the year, and a movie that has launched a genuine movie star in an old-fashioned and yet very new-fashioned sense — 23 year-old Carey Mulligan. I know that special old-soul-mixed-with-youthful-effervescence quality that you see in very few actors and actresses over the years, and trust me, Mulligan has it.

He gushes on at considerable length, going so far as to draw Audrey Hepburn comparisons that would immediately alert my bullshit-meter were it not for the fact that, two years ago, I saw Mulligan knock it out the park opposite the imperious Kristin Scott Thomas in the Royal Court production of “The Seagull.” She’s the real deal, and Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir clearly agrees, citing “a performance of Audrey Hepburn-esque starmaking intensity” from Mulligan, and raving about the film:

There’s no movie in this festival that’s quite as ravishing, as witty, as well-acted or as satisfying overall as “An Education” … Fundamentally it belongs to the irresistible Mulligan as Jenny, a mouthy, awkward, almost-sexy combination of innocence and wisdom. You almost never see movies about teenagers that treat them with this much respect.

Screen International also offers a firm thumbs-up on the film, whose mightily impressive cast also includes Emma Thompson, Peter Sarsgaard and Sally Hawkins. Scherfig’s delightful “Italian for Beginners” proved she has knows her way round warm-hearted, audience-friendly arthouse fare, so I’m not surprised this one is setting tongues wagging.

Fox Searchlight has already made a $1 million bid on the film, though it appears they’ve entered into a bit of a tussle with sellers CAA and Endeavor, who want considerably more. I must say, given Searchlight’s form of late, I think it’d be foolish to turn them down, but I’m no businessman. I’m just glad something — and someone — at Sundance is generating some heat.