Educating Rita

Viewing a film

The movie is based on the play with the same title written by Willy Russell in 1980. The play

follows the relationship between a young working class woman unsatisfied with her personal and professional life, and a middle-aged university lecturer addicted to alcohol. It deals with the concepts of education, freedom, love, personal relationships and society. The original play is only for two actors, setting the whole action in the lecturer's office at the university in Liverpool. As we haven't seen the play, we are going to concentrate on the film. I will analyze the two main characters, Rita and Frank in the first film scene. There are other characters that appear in the movie which are only mentioned on the play. This characters , together with other features, are used in the film as symbols to develop the main themes treated in the movie and mentioned above. I will analyze some of these symbols and how they are used into those themes. Almost the whole movie is settled in Frank's office at the Liverpool's University, which is quite as the original play. Frank's character, his job as a lecturer, and his addiction to alcohol are also presented first of all in the movie. The emotional needs of Rita, her desires and her goals are stated in the first scene as well.

Rita is the main character in the movie. She is a 26 years old working class woman who decides to go to the Open University, to "find herself". She is been born in Liverpool. A married woman, working as a hairdresser who is unsatisfied with her life.

Frank's character represents a man who seems to be bored of life, with no goals anymore. His position towards life is that of resignation to live with what he thinks he has left, with not expectations or dreams to fight for. He is the completely opposite of Rita. His job as a

literature professor at the University seems not to attract him anymore.

The first film scene deals with cinematics, which shows you different effects.

When Rita is on the University the camera