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Educating Rita
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Educating Rita (1983) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   4,863 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 8% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Lewis Gilbert
Writers:
Willy Russell (play)
Willy Russell (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Educating Rita on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 September 1983 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Comedy more
Tagline:
A comedy about a teacher and a very memorable student [Video Australia] more
Plot:
A young wife decides to complete her education and take her exams. She meets a professor who teaches... more | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Julie Walters to play Mo Mowlam
 (From digitalspy. 4 June 2009, 2:54 AM, PDT)

Mo Mowlam Drama Begins Ni Shoot
 (From IFTN. 26 May 2009, 7:29 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Shaw would be proud. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Michael Caine ... Dr. Frank Bryant

Julie Walters ... Rita, aka Susan
Michael Williams ... Brian
Maureen Lipman ... Trish
Jeananne Crowley ... Julia
Malcolm Douglas ... Denny
Godfrey Quigley ... Rita's Father

Dearbhla Molloy ... Elaine
Patrick Daly ... Bursar (as Pat Daly)
Kim Fortune ... Collins

Philip Hurd-Wood ... Tiger (as Philip Hurdwood)
Hilary Reynolds ... Lesley
Jack Walsh ... Price
Christopher Casson ... Professor
Rosamund Burton ... Denise
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Additional Details

Runtime:
110 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Company:
Acorn Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
When Frank is drunk in the lecture hall, he says, "Not many people know that." This not only became a familiar catchphrase for Michael Caine but also the title of a best-selling collection of trivia anecdotes, which Caine compiled in book form for the National Playing Fields Association charity in 1984. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Rita first enters her shared flat, a record is playing on the turntable. The needle is extremely close to the end of the record, yet the song continues playing in the background for at least another two minutes with no sign of stopping. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
[Frank walks on campus and addresses some students]
Dr. Frank Bryant: Good afternoon.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Cybill: Educating Zoey (#2.13)" (1996) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful:-
Shaw would be proud., 16 April 2006
10/10
Author: budmassey (cyberbarrister@gmail.com) from Indianapolis, IN

What delights me most about this movie is that in early 2006 it finally came out on DVD. There is a minor glitch in the establishing scene at the beginning, but to see Rita once again in widescreen is almost like seeing it for the very first time.

Educating Rita is one of many re-tellings of Shaw's Pygmalion, itself based on a Greek myth, so the story is nothing new. Rita, as so many great British films, is based on a play, in this case by Willie Russell, who also collaborated with director Lewis Gilbert on the delightful Shirley Valentine, cast in a similar vein. It would be easy to think of Rita as My Fair Lady without the Marne Nixon voice overs, but that would be, as a classmate of Rita's puts it, facile.

The combination of Michale Caine and Julie Walters is pure magic. Unlike Dudley Moore's lovable drunk, Caine's Frank Bryant is a drunk that is difficult to love, which makes him far more interesting. He wallows, not in self pity, which would be disgusting, but in the infinitely sadder depths of self acceptance and resignation to shortcomings. He is a failed drunken poet who has lost the capacity to feel his own life.

Enter Rita, a hairdresser who wants to learn literary criticism, but more importantly, learn a way out of a life that she feels all too well. From his jaundiced perspective, Frank fears that educating Rita would transform her into just another one of the lifeless women that litter his life, but Rita will not be denied. Gradually, through voracious consumption of the Canon of Western Literature, Rita learns what she believes to be a better song to sing.

But it's not that simple. Rita finds that people, even educated people, in the end, have only themselves to cling to, and Shaw, Blake, Ibsen and Chekov may help fill up the empty moments, but they can't take away the emptiness itself. What does Rita want? Frank? A baby? Her ex-husband? No. What Rita wants is choices, and the freedom to choose among them for herself, and getting there is warm and moving drama that elevates Educating Rita among the absolute best of its era and genre.

David Hentschel's synthesized soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. It is by now so obviously from another era that it allows you to be drawn even more into the film, giving it a more timeless than dated feel. The supporting cast is wonderful, including classically renowned actress Maureen Lipman who was later awarded a C.B.E. for her work in British theatre.

Ultimately, however, it is the sheer magic of Caine and Walters, no less so than with Harrison and Hepburn in My Fair Lady, that gives Rita the boundless charm, wit, and passion that have made it one of my favorite films of all time.

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