Educating Rita (film)

Educating Rita
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Produced by	Lewis Gilbert
Written by	Willy Russell
Starring	Michael Caine Julie Walters
Editing by	Garth Craven
Studio	Acorn Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	September 14, 1983 (1983-09-14) (Toronto)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$6.5 million
Box office	$14,648,076 (USA)

Educating Rita is a 1983 film based upon Willy Russell's play of the same title directed by Lewis Gilbert and stars Julie Walters, Michael Caine, and Maureen Lipman with a screenplay by Russell.

Premise

A Liverpudlian working-class girl wants to better herself by studying literature. Her assigned Open University professor, however, has long since openly taken to the bottle, and soon develops misgivings about her ability to adapt to academia. Frank (Caine) is a jaded university lecturer, who describes his occupational ability as 'appalling but good enough for his appalling students'. His passion for the subject is reignited by Rita (Walters), whose technical ability for the subject is limited by her lack of education but whose enthusiasm Frank finds refreshing.

The film focuses on how Rita struggles to still interact with her peers from her own working class background, but similarly struggles to fit into the educated middle-class. Rita's original preconceptions of the educated classes having better lives and being happier people are brought into question throughout the film through Frank's failing social life and alcoholism and her flatmate Trish's attempted suicide.

Cast

• Julie Walters as Susan "Rita" White
• Michael Caine as Dr. Frank Bryant
• Michael Williams as Brian
• Maureen Lipman as Trish
• Jeananne Crowley as Julia
• Malcolm Douglas as Denny
• Godfrey Quigley as Rita's Father
• Dearbhla Molloy as Elaine

Production

Julie Walters, in her feature film debut, reprised her role from the stage production.

Although the setting of the film is Liverpool, the film was shot in Dublin. Trinity College, Dublin is used as the setting for the university, and University College Dublin in Belfield, Dublin is used for Rita's summer school. The rooms used by Bryant as his office and tutorial room were those of the College Historical Society and the University Philosophical Society respectively, and while the building was considerably refurnished, the production chose to leave portraits of Douglas Hyde and Isaac Butt and committee photographs in the former and a bust of John Pentland Mahaffy in the latter. No. 8 Hogan Avenue in the South Lotts area of Ringsend was used for Rita's house in the film, and one in Burlington Road, Ballsbridge for Bryant's. The scene in France was filmed in Maynooth, outside Dublin, and Pearse Station and Dublin Airport were also used. The scene in the pub was shot in The Stag's Head pub on Dame Court in Dublin. However, the pub which Rita enters is the Dame Tavern which is opposite The Stags head.

Reception

Critics

Janet Maslin called the film "an awkward blend of intellectual pretension and cute obvious humour ... the perfect play about literature for anyone who wouldn't dream of actually reading books"; she noted that "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."

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, calling the film a "forced march through a formula relationship"; he said Russell's screen adaptation "added mistresses, colleagues, husbands, in-laws, students and a faculty committee, all unnecessary" and said the playwright/screenwriter "start[ed] with an idealistic, challenging idea, and then cynically tr[ied] to broaden its appeal."

Awards and major nominations

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures placed Educating Rita second in its Top Ten Films list for 1983.

At the 37th British Academy Film Awards, Educating Rita won Best Film, with Caine and Walters receiving Best Actor/Actress awards. Walters was nominated for Best Newcomer, Maureen Lipman for Best Supporting Actress, and Willy Russell for Best Adapted Screenplay; all but Lipman also received Oscars nominations.

Retrospective assessments

In 1999, the film was among the BFI Top 100 British films.

In 2007, while promoting the remake of Sleuth, Caine called Educating Rita "the last good picture [he] made before [he] mentally retired."

Proposed remake

In November 2002, the then-82-year-old director Lewis Gilbert went public with plans to remake his film "with a black cast that could include Halle Berry and Denzel Washington", with principal photography to commence in 2003. The project, however, never got off the ground.

External links

• Educating Rita at BFI Screenonline
• Educating Rita at the Internet Movie Database
• Educating Rita at AllRovi
• Educating Rita at Rotten Tomatoes
• An article on the film's Dublin locations