Educating Rita

    Educating Rita
    1983

    Synopsis

    Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to 'discover' herself, so she joins the Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge... and along comes Rita.

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    Cast

    • Michael CaineDr. Frank Bryant
    • Julie WaltersRita Susan White
    • Michael WilliamsBrian
    • Maureen LipmanTrish
    • Jeananne CrowleyJulia
    • Malcolm DouglasDenny
    • Godfrey QuigleyRita's Father
    • Dearbhla MolloyElaine
    • Kim FortuneCollins
    • Pat DalyBursar

    Recommendations

    • 90

      Variety

      Aided greatly by an expert film adaptation by its playwright, Willy Russell, Gilbert has come up with an irresistible story about a lively, lower-class British woman hungering for an education and the rather, staid, degenerating English professor who reluctantly provides her with one.
    • 80

      Empire

      Lewis Gilbert, and two career best performances from his leading actors, give this film such energy it leaves the pleasant aroma of life and possibility.
    • 75

      TV Guide Magazine

      This is a poignant if predictable take on the English class system, buoyed by an effervescent performance from Walters.
    • 63

      Christian Science Monitor

      The plot is ''Pygmalion'' warmed over, but Michael Caine and Julie Walters give sparkling performances, and director Lewis Gilbert keeps the action humming along.
    • 63

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      The achievement of Educating Rita is a function of the distinguished performances, the agreeably archetypal situation and the scissor-sharp lines. [23 Sep 1983]
    • 60

      Chicago Reader

      The film doesn't transcend its genre, but it's an honorable achievement within it.
    • 50

      Chicago Sun-Times

      Educating Rita, which might have been a charming human comedy, disintegrated into a forced march through a formula relationship.
    • 30

      The New York Times

      The essentially two-character play has been opened up to the point that it includes a variety of settings and subordinate figures, but it never approaches anything lifelike.

    Seen by

    • effy
    • turandot