Not many films make the audience care enough about relationships and circumstances, but this brilliant movie not only gets the audience committed to their plight, but also feels the full range of emotions. Both Caine and Walters give amazingly touching performances, and throughout I felt myself urging them to each other, only to know deep down that the age gap is just too much. With one thing gained, many other things are lost, and with Frank's increasing drinking problem because of Rita's character change, the two are headed for disaster. Educating Rita is funny, expressive, sentimental, poignant and sad, as Frank must come to terms with the young bird fleeing the nest, whilst Rita begins to realize what she is becoming. However, Rita's return with a change of character surprises Frank, and soon they drift away from their zany, affectionate meetings. As their relationship blossoms and Rita starts to find herself, she becomes increasingly drawn to the student way of life, and when Franks life is enriched because of her presence and her willingness to learn he sends her to a summer camp, to be educated at a greater level. But Rita is new and fresh, initially Rita doesn't possess the skills required to write analytical essays but she is different, she is vibrant, she is funny and she is unbelievably up front. He is jaded, he is tired of the same lecture routines, and he cannot understand why these students want to discuss the finer points of Blake. On top of this he has hit the bottle and can only get through the day of teaching the young toffs, with a blend of his lecturing skills and the drink. Frank Bryant's marriage has gone down the pan, and his current girlfriend is playing away. Frank is assigned to tutor her, and from the start their personalities resonate the human touch. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine) to not only improve her lexicon, but to improve her image she begins a journey of blood and tears. Her common touch and wonderful idiosyncrasies bring a breath of fresh air to snotty high class life, but when she goes to Dr. Not only is this an un-needed pressure, but her father is plaguing her about when she is going to have children, but all Rita wants to do is find herself and take up something new. Maybe that's what happens when you start with an idealistic, challenging idea, and then cynically try to broaden its appeal.People who have experienced the mid-life crisis will be at home with this movie, as 26 year old hairdresser, Rita (Julie Walters), is pressurised into settling down with boyfriend Denny. When Caine's professor, at the end of this movie, flies off to Australia to maybe sober up and maybe make a fresh start, it's a total cop-out - not by him, but by the screenplay.
They're made to deliver speeches, take positions and make decisions that are required by the plot, not by their own inner promptings. There is a real character there, just as there was in Caine's boozy diplomat in the recent flop " Beyond the Limit." In both movies, though, the characters are not well-served by the story. To the degree that "Educating Rita" does work, the credit goes to Michael Caine, who plays a man weary and kind, funny and self-hating. Russell's movie rewrite has added mistresses, colleagues, husbands, in-laws, students and a faculty committee, all unnecessary. They were on the stage together for a long time, and by the end of the play we had shared in their developing relationship. The original "Educating Rita," a long-running London stage hit by Willy Russell, had only the two characters. Because even the movie doesn't really believe that, it departs from the stage play to bring in a lot of phony distractions. The books are like incantations that, used properly, will exorcise Cockney accents and alcoholism. There is a lot of talk about Blake this and Wordsworth that. They pass the books back and forth a lot. The idea of the curmudgeon and the Cockney was not new when Bernard Shaw wrote "Pygmalion," and it is not any newer in "Educating Rita." But it could have been entertaining, if only I'd believed they were reading those books. She sees him as a man who ought to sober up and return to his first love, writing poems. Caine sees Walters as a fresh, honest, unspoiled intelligence. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they both fall into love with the remake job they'd like to do on each other.
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