Educating Rita - Explore how the director develops the complexities in these characters and their relationships with each other.

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Dan Shepherd

Educating Rita – English Essay

The film is concerned with two problem-ridden characters.

Explore how the director develops the complexities in these characters and their relationships with each other.

You should refer to:

  • Four separate episodes
  • Characterisation
  • Language
  • Directors techniques

There are two main characters in the film educating Rita. These are both problem ridden and have many faults within themselves that can only be solved by each others love, affection and comfort towards one another. The director develops complexities in these characters and he uses various techniques to develop there relationship which will be explained during this essay.

The two characters I am referring to are Rita played by Julie Walters and Frank played by Michael Caine. In the film they are both very different people. Rita is a hair dresser from a working class background and Frank is a University lecturer from a middle or class background that tutors Open University pupils for extra money.

In my opinion the contrast of the two characters brings them closer together.

During this essay I plan to introduce each character then go through each bullet point thoroughly including four separate episodes, how Frank and Rita behave and react around one another concerning characterisation, the difference in language used in the two characters and also the directors techniques used in the film. Having done this I should be able to answer the question fully in the conclusion.

Being from a hard up working class background Rita received a poor education leading her to become a hairdresser even though she had the potential to a much higher paid job where her brain is needed. This being the reason she decided to try out an Open University course. She didn’t want to be stuck in hairdressing in Liverpool for the rest of her life she wanted to get qualifications and discover her real inner self before the best part of her life was over and she was tied down with children. Rita is already married to a man called Denny but with an already weak relationship things got a lot worse when she started to study because he didn’t like her getting an education – thinks she should stay at home and have children, and as Rita spends less time with him they start to grow apart.

With a low ability of reading and writing and no experience of a higher level education Rita finds Open University hard at first but soon learns and becomes a good student.

Frank on the other hand is a middle class, well spoken university lecturer that reads and writes at a high level so can not cope with Rita at first but as she learns and their relationship becomes stronger (even though they didn’t really know it) he begins to accept her.

Frank is also in a relationship of his own but it brakes down because his partner had an affair. This leads him to becoming lonely and drinking a lot. Frank can not face his drink problem and will not even acknowledge it. This is one of the reasons he needs to be loved and why Rita needs to help him.

Even though Frank wants to help Rita get her qualifications and has a theory that everyone should be equal no matter what their social class is he still goes off with the higher class people and expects Rita to do the same (shown in one of the episodes). This is known as a champagne socialist.

Even with totally different backgrounds and lives Rita and Frank are much the same as they both have severe problems, both have problems in past and present relationships and most importantly they both need to be loved.

There are four main episodes in the film which show important features of Rita and Frank’s development in their characters complexities and relationships. The first episode is the opening sequence of the film and is possibly the most important because it is when Frank and Rita first lay eyes upon one another. The main point in the second episode is when Denny burns all Rita’s books, in the third episode there is a contrast in Rita and Frank’s worlds and finally in the last episode Frank leaves Rita at the airport when he goes off to Australia.

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In the opening sequence of the film the atmosphere and location is set just right. After the opening titles the first scene is the grounds of the university and the sun is shining and students are relaxing on the grass. This sets up a good contrast for when Rita walks through an archway and out of the shadows. This gives us the contrast of Rita coming out of her dark world and into Frank’s bright world which gives a conflict of location and Rita feels lost.

When Frank and Rita first meet in this episode there is already ...

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