Educating Rita (movie)

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Educating Rita is a 1983 movie starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay is based on the play by Willy Russell.

Plot[edit]

University literature lecturer Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine) in a bid to earn some extra money agrees to take on some Open University students. He is shocked when the 26-year-old Rita White (Julie Walters) turns up: a feisty, brash, working class hairdresser who wants to "find herself" by studying literature. Rita is under pressure from her husband Denny to settle down and have children - but education seems to open up new horizons for Rita intellectually and socially.

But, for Frank, Rita's blossoming is a loss of what made her interesting in the first place: instead of being fresh and vibrant, she is turning into the same thing Frank finds so boring in his university-educated friends, colleagues and wife. Rita believes she can now "sing a better song"; Frank responds that she can "sing a different song", not necessarily a better one. This is enough to turn Frank - in despondence - back to alcohol.

At the end of the film, Rita has got what she wanted: an education and, with it, a choice of how to live. Frank has been forced to leave the University for Australia, but sees it as a new opportunity.