Academy Awards nominee: An Education

Based on journalist Lynn Barber's 1960s memoir, An Education tells the story of Jenny, the 16-year-old who must choose between university and her love for a super-smooth older man (Peter Sarsgaard).

English actress Carey Mulligan, 24, has been widely praised for her portrayal of Jenny as an earnest schoolgirl longing for real experience. The reviews of Lone Scherfig's direction and Nick Hornby's script are not universally approving, but it's hard to find a bad word written anywhere about Mulligan's performance.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:Toby Young, the Times: "This is a wonderful, life-affirming picture that deserves all the prizes it will undoubtedly win. I can't call it the best British film of the year because it's still only October. But I'd be amazed if a better one comes along."

Kenneth Turan, LA Times: "Mulligan seizes the character of 16-year-old Jenny in a once-in-a-lifetime way. The notion of the single performance that creates a star overnight is surely one of Hollywood's biggest cliches, but this is one time when you can take it to the bank."

Robert Hanks, the Independent: "The glamour stripped away, the film seems abruptly empty, Jenny herself a cypher. We need at this point to be on the inside, looking out. If Hornby and Scherfig knew how to do that, this would be a great film; as it is, we'll have to settle for pretty good."

David Denby, the New Yorker: "Carey Mulligan is self-possessed, but what makes the movie unusual is the strange innocence of Sarsgaard's seducer: David is a liar and swindler, but he is as eager as Jenny is for pleasures of every kind - he enjoys them as if for the first time."

'An Education' is out on DVD on April 24. ·