Watch Educating Rita For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Simply Perfect

Pretty Good

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Rita is a twenty six year old hairdresser, who's only had a basic education, after a long time deliberating she joins an open University course with Doctor Frank Bryant, she wants to change her life, and instantly changes his life.There aren't enough superlatives I can throw at these two, my favourite performance to this day from Michael Caine, he's funny, tragic, captivating and totally engaging. He bounces so well off a young Julie Walters, for my money one of the best British actresses of all time, her performance is sensational, you truly see Rita develop throughout the film. A shame Lipman didn't get more screen time, the few minutes she's on, she's brilliant.I've never forgotten that phrase 'assonance means getting the rhyme wrong.'It has some incredibly funny moments, Brian's phone calls to his agents, Rita's early outbursts. It has some truly sad moments, where Denny burns her books, and it boasts a moment of devastation, poor Maureen Lipman's character Trish.It's a fabulous film, I know many see it as an Eighty's Pygmalion story, but it's so much more then that, it's a social character study, which is acted to perfection. A great film. 9/10

Released in 1983 and directed by Lewis Gilbert from Willy Russell's script, "Educating Rita" is a drama starring Julie Walters in the titular role as a spirited 26 year-old blue-collar woman from Liverpool, England, who wants to improve her life by enrolling in a special Open University class. She meets with her jaded tutor, Professor Frank (Michael Caine), once a week to study great literature. The morose Frank spends his days in a boozy haze and is intrigued by the outspoken Rita as the mentee lights a fire in the mentor that's been out for a long time. The plot was taken from George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (1913), which was the basis for the 1956 Broadway play "My Fair Lady," which was in turn made into the famous 1964 movie of the same name. In Roman mythology Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with an ivory statue of a beautiful woman he had carved. That's fitting for "Educating Rita.I generally enjoyed this drama for several reasons. For instance, I appreciate the locations (Dublin, Ireland, standing in for Liverpool) and the theme: Rita's preconceptions that those in academia lead superior, happier lives are challenged by Frank's failing relationships and pathetic alcoholism, not to mention her cultured flat mate's struggles with severe depression(Maureen Lipman). Despite this, Rita seems to become a stronger person as she learns and adapts to academia.Unfortunately, the movie's lacking in some ways. For one, while Walters is fine in the eponymous role, she was 32 during filming and looked about 35 (her character is supposed to be 26 when introduced). More importantly, the drama just isn't that compelling. I suppose it doesn't help that the character arc of one of the main characters is unsatisfying, even frustrating, but I suppose it could be argued that that's just the way it is sometimes; and it is. ADDITIONAL CAST: Jeananne Crowley plays Frank's live-in non-lover, Professor Julia, while Michael Williams plays the dean of the university and Julia's secret lover, Brian. Malcolm Douglas appears as Rita's husband, Denny. The movie runs 110 minutes and was shot in Dublin, Ireland. GRADE: C+

In London, the twenty-seven year-old hairdresser Rita (Julie Walters) decides to complete her basic education before having children as desired by her husband Denny (Malcolm Douglas). She joins the literature course in an open university and has tutorial with the middle-aged Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine) that is an alcoholic and deluded professor from the upper-class without self-esteem. Frank lives with the also Professor Julia (Jeananne Crowley) and they have a loveless relationship; Julia has a love affair with the dean Brian (Michael Williams). The amusing Rita gives motivation to Frank to prepare her for the exams to join the university while she leaves Denny and moves to the house of the waitress Trish (Maureen Lipman), who loves Gustav Mahler and is a cult woman. Will she succeed in the exams? "Educating Rita" is an unknown little gem with a dramatic and funny story about culture clash and improvement of life status through education. The plot partially recalls the storyline of "Pigmalion" or "My Fair Lady" with the change of behavior of Rita through the education. The screenplay has little details that might be unobserved by the viewer, like for example Frank's bottle of whiskey hidden behind the book "The Lost Weekend" and witty dialogues. The top-notch Michael Caine has one of his best performances in the role of a refined and cultured man without self-esteem that finds motivation in life after finding a simple woman that gives a different perspective view of life for him. Julie Walters is simply fantastic. The result is a very human story of friendship that has not aged. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Despertar de Rita" ("The Awakening of Rita")

Alcoholic professor tutors a working class woman who aspires to become educated. It's based on a play and it shows. Most of the film is devoted to conversations between Caine as the self-pitying professor and Walters as the uncultured but enthusiastic student. While some of the dialog is interesting, much of it is mundane and repetitive and the film quickly runs out of steam. Caine is fine, but the film belongs to Walters. Repeating her stage role, Walters is delightfully vivacious in her film debut. The only problem is that her accent is so thick that those who are not British may have to strain to understand what she is saying.