An Education: The Screenplay

The Introduction and Sundance Diary gives an excellent example of what it takes to write a screenplay, get a movie made and anticipate it's premier. And the film itself is an good example of an age-discrepant relationship. I highly recommend that you at least read the Introduction and Sundance Diary if you desire to write and sell a screenplay. Katie

NOT THE BEST OF HORNBY

Do not be confused like I was: the book by Nick Hornby is the movie script and the ohter is the actual story itself.

I am very upset and shocked to learn that the book I purchased is not the novel, it is the screen play. It does not say anywhere in the description that it is a screen play. I am upset I paid money for this. Don't buy it:(

In a whirlwind tour of expanding horizons, the plot suspense centers around the question: Will she wreck her life, and just how badly?I give this screenplay-book 5 stars, for 3 reasons:(1) the spot-on description of a teenage girl (Jenny) getting to know people who are exciting, glamorous, and worldly and who have different values and ethics than her family. She is not honest when discussing them with her parents, and not entirely honest with herself.(2) Although very entertaining, there are some major life lessons in this book, some more subtle than others. Because of this, it seems a good gift for teen girls, although I know some women in their 40's who still haven't figured out some of the lessons. As a gift idea for teen girls, be aware that it frankly discusses some topics, and some parents may object to that.(3) The writing is much better quality than most screenplays (although that is faint praise, because most screenplays are so bad).Reading this took me back in time to my teen years; I remember having many of the same thoughts and attitudes as Jenny. There but for the grace of God ...A quote from Hornby that describes Lynn Barber (and Jenny) as "a suburban girl who's frightened that she's going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city".This book is set in the 1960's in a household that seems conservative today. Younger readers may be surprised by the parents' attitude towards young marriage, and the widespread expectation that respectable married women would not have careers or educational goals.This book is inspired by a memoir by Lynn Barber, reworked by Nick Hornby into a screenplay version, with some fictionalized details. I have not yet read the complete memoir by Lynn Barber, but plan to.

An Education, by Nick Hornby (200 pgs., 2009). This is the author's thirteenth published work. It contains both an introduction & the screenplay of the movie of the same title. Hornby based this screenplay upon an autobiographical essay published in GRANTA. It was about an affair a young teenage English schoolgirl had with a shady older man in the early 1960's. In this screenplay, Jenny is a 16-year old schoolgirl attending a posh girl's school. Her parents are upward striving middle class overachievers. Their dream is for their daughter to attend Oxford University, make the proper connections, & secure an upwardly mobile life for herself. Jenny plays the cello. She has been at a rehearsal. She is waiting for to catch the bus to go home. It is raining. A car stops. She is offered a lift. Friendly banter. She gets in to protect her cello from the rain. David is the driver. He is a charming older man. His banter is quick & witty. She is impressed. He drops her home. A few days later, he just happens to meet her after school. More banter. She agrees to have dinner with him. He even meets her parents. They are charmed by him. They are impressed by the car he drives; a Bentley. They are impressed with his credentials & his connections at Oxford. They see him as a Mentor for their daughter. With his gift of tongue, somehow he gets her parents to beg him to take her to dinner, to take her to recitals, to take her for a weekend trip, to take her to Paris with him for an educational trip. She quickly falls in love with David. David introduces her to his partner & his partner's girlfriend, both much older than her. Jenny is accepted by all. She wants David to take her virginity when she turns 17. Before that time, she has other sexual activities with him. She is 16 & David is 30 something. She wants to marry him. She drops out of school. She loses her virginity to him. She learns his work is mainly scamming people. Sadly, she learns after all she has done that he is married & has no intention of leaving his wife & kids. She has to pick up the pieces & put her life back in order. This could be a very salacious book, but there are no dirty parts. Nothing is described. Emotions are used. Words are used. I never thought I'd enjoy reading a screenplay. I did enjoy reading this one.

Jenny wants to be anything but ordinary. In this coming-of-age story, she dreams of a world full of music and dance, while in reality she's stuck in 1960s suburban London. That is until David, an older man, walks into her life and takes her on a whirlwind of a journey, where she loses not just her innocence but a bit of herself at the same time. Hornby's script is excellent, truly showing a middle-class London from yesteryear and wonderfully drawn characters inhabiting the streets. The characters are vivid and interesting, always with a motive. And the diary, which is included with the script, offers an interesting inside look at not just the writing process, but the creation of the film.

This was an impressive piece of work, given that Nick had only the second chapter of Lynn Barber's book to work with.None of what he writes is padding, which speaks both for his imagination and a lot of hard graft and revision.The principles for writing a film script are similar to those of a TV report.Words should serve to enhance images, and the fewer the number of words used, the better.Hornby engages the reader throughout, which is one reason that the film was such a success.Andrew Hoellering

現在劇場公開されている映画の脚本です。ずいぶん前にNick Hornby　が書いたというだけの理由で表紙も見ずに購入して、原作の物語を読んだり、映画を観たりしながら本書を読んで今やっとレビューを書くことにしました。まず、映画がすごく良い感じでした。原作を読んで、さらに脚本まで読んでいたのに楽しめる映画って、そうは滅多に出会えないものだと思っていましたが、これこそまさにそんな感じでした。原作はある大御所の女性ジャーナリストの自伝ですが、映画自体は十代のときの出会いと別れのエピソードだけを取り扱っています。これから映画を観る人のため詳細は控えさせていただきますが、60年代イギリスの若い女性の出会いととまどいが新鮮に伝わってきました。台詞などは、映画とほぼ誤差なく活字になっていて、この価格というのは貴重な本です。それは、脚本を書いているHornbyの妻が監督の1人であり、映画の制作のごく近い関係にあったからではないかと思います。私が映画館を出てまずしたことは、本書の表現の細かなニュアンスの読んだだけでは分からなかった部分のおさらいでした。イギリス英語を学んでる人にはお薦めです。コトバにキレがあってそこもお気に入りです。また、本書の最後のシーンは、劇場公開にはなかった後日談が入っていて、ぷっと笑いたくなる感じでした。