Educating Rita is one of the funniest, warmest, best acted British movies I’ve ever seen – the script sparkles while Michael Caine and Julie Walters showcase their best performances, I don’t think I’ve seen either do better. Written by Willy Russell and adapted from his 2-hander stage play (also starring Walters), and directed by James Bond-helmer Lewis Gilbert, the movie sees Caine’s university professor tutoring Walter’s Open Uni student ‘Rita’ (real name Susan) for an English course.
The synopsis of the movie is deceptively simple, for the movie takes in Caine’s alcoholism, his cheating girlfriend, Rita’s growth from hairdresser to summer-school student, with the dissolution of her marriage and the suicide attempt of her flat mate thrown in for good measure (flat mate played beautifully by Maureen Lipman). A lot of ground is covered and there’s plenty of time for some big laughs and a couple of very strong character arcs. There’s an inevitable will-they-won’t-they undercurrent running through Caine and Walter’s relationship, but the movie never takes you anywhere predictable. Thankfully there is no May to December romance on the cards, but it is clear that while Caine longs for Rita, she has no romantic interest in him.
Rita is on a quest to ‘find herself’ through literature and the Open University, but as her rough edges are knocked off and she becomes more ‘studenty’, Caine comes to believe that he has created a monster, as the subtle reference to Frankenstein makes clear during one of his drunken bouts. He makes a very convincing drunk, and his affection for Rita is heart-breaking, as is his reluctance to take Rita’s compliments for his poetry on board. Rita may have taken steps towards finding herself, I found a wonderful, near flawless gem of a movie that I’d happily revisit.
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