Educating Rita (Julie Walters)

(Amazon UK link)

We were chatting with friends recently about the play Pygmalion, and the related film ‘My Fair Lady’, which were inspired by the classic Greek myth about Pygmalion. I remembered that the 1983 film ‘Educating Rita’, which we hadn’t watched for about twelve years, was also inspired by the original Greek myth, so we decided to watch it last night. Unfortunately our DVD is quite old and it skipped a few scenes (one of which I later watched on YouTube, which probably wasn’t legal but we do actually own a DVD, albeit faulty).

The story is well-known. Rita (a very young looking Julie Walters) is a hairdresser, married to Denny (Malcolm Douglas), who is a traditional working class young man. He really wants them to start a family, but Rita (whose real name is Susan) is determined to get some education - to ‘find herself’, as she puts it. So she enrols in the Open University, and her assigned tutor is called Frank (Michael Caine).

Frank is a lecturer in English literature, but he’s also an alcoholic with spirits hidden around his study. We first meet him when he’s supposedly running a tutorial group, but is quite inebriated, and takes almost no notice of his students. He has no wish to be an Open University tutor, and his first impression of Rita is not positive. He tries to put her off, but she’s outspoken and very determined, and despite himself he comes to like and respect her, although he’s not convinced he can teach her anything useful.

Since the two become friends, and it’s clear that she is a much stronger character, the resemblance to ‘Pygmalion’ is perhaps rather tentative. Rita is not seen as an object - this is what she makes clear to her husband and family; that she wants to be a person, to expand her knowledge and learn about ideas that are outside her normal world. Frank is perhaps the first person to take her seriously.

There’s plenty of humour in the film; Julie Walters is superb in the role of Rita, gradually changing from a brash, pushy young woman into a gentler, tasteful woman with considerable knowledge about English literature. Her hair grows longer and softer, her clothes become more casual and somehow more classy. It’s not about class as such, although the stereotypes are there, it’s about the way that education, at least in some forms, gives choices. Rita probably does want to have a baby one day, but she wants to make that choice herself, because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s what her family expects of her.

It’s rated PG which reflects the total lack of any nudity, violence or intimate scenes, but there are some more adult themes - such as Rita and Denny’s discussions about birth control - and some parents might prefer their children not to see quite so much alcohol being consumed, with the resultant drunkenness, albeit mostly good-natured. There are a few instances of strong language, too, although mostly used for the sake of making a point.

I liked the film very much; I’d forgotten a lot of the detail, and look forward already to seeing it again in another decade or so. But we might get hold of a better quality DVD first. Definitely recommended to older teens and adults. Apparently it's available not just in a remastered older edition, but in a new, digitally enhanced version produced in 2018.

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