Product: Educating Rita (UK) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]
Rating: 5.0
BRILLIANT
This flick, with it's small ensemble caught me by surprise on re-run TV, a few years after its release, and I never forgot it. I was never a Micheal Caine fan, and was new to Walters. She won me over instantly, and this is now my favorite movie of all time, really because of her perormance, and of course the story. Basically, It's Pygmaleon, reborn. A working class "My Fair Lady" so to speak. Rita, a hairdresser without an education signs on for a course at a university, in an attempt to better her life, against the wishes of her "women should be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen" husband, Denny. Frank, a burnt out teacher with a penchant for whiskey, in overindulgence is her teacher. As the movie unfolds, He teaches her literature, she teaches him lessons in life. Eventually they both grow because of it. Rita in an attempt to change herself superficially, dubs herself Susan. She is a clean slate. Frank, Jaded and bitter, thinks she is better as the whimsical hairdresser, and balks at teaching her, in fear of her become like the other students he has. In the end he does, and she does change, but she also changes him. Her marriage crumbles because of her quest at rebirth, his career crumbles because of his drinking, and both are left with a new road ahead. It could have been so easy for another writer to have had them fall in love, have Frank to make the 100% turnaround (out of drunken-ness), that Rita makes of her life. But instead we get a more real ending. She has a new education, but an unsure future. He has a new future, but he may or may not still be a drunk. They both have a respect, and a frienship for one-another, and maybe a slight enamoration. In the end we are left with the sense they both will come out on top, but at the same time are not given the answers. Really a great watch for a rainy in the house night. The cast is great, you will be won over, and will watch this film repeatedly!