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 a great deal of suspense. This is brought about by the door of Frank’s office not opening. It is important because they both want to make a good first impression to each other but this is not the case when Rita smashes through the door because the handle is broken and she has to use force. In my opinion Rita first sees Frank as a lazy old man that can not be bothered to get his door fixed and Frank’s first impression of Rita is that she is a bit loud and clumsy and maybe even a bit brainless even though the door was broken. Even with these first impressions of each other a good relationship appears to start straight after they meet as they stand and have a dink and smoke together, which gives the audience an intimate picture in their minds.
Throughout this episode both Frank’s and Rita’s personality becomes apparent. Rita’s lack of knowledge is shown when she gets the poet Yates confused with the wine bar and also when she asks Frank what the word assonance means (which she heard a student saying before they met). Even with her lack of knowledge Rita is capable of philosophical remarks. This is shown when she is telling Frank that she has to change from the inside and that is why she is doing her Open University degree.
Also Rita’s controlling personality is shown in this episode when she’s commanding and telling Frank what to do even though she’s the one that is supposed to be getting interviewed.
In the way of Frank’s personality it has not been made as apparent as Rita’s but in this first episode it does become clear that he likes to have a drink (maybe too much sometimes) and he is not as strong minded as Rita. The audience knows that he likes to drink because he has a bottle of gin hidden behind a book titled ‘The Lost Weekend’ (The title of this of book could be there to tell us that Frank is unsure of himself or feels lost) and we know that Frank is not as strong minded as Rita because he gets told what to do and does not really stand up for himself.
We also know from the opening scene that Rita likes Frank but Frank is not quite as sure, when he tells her he does not want to teach her because he does not like Open university hours and she tells him that she doesn’t want another tutor because she likes him and wants to be taught by him. This episode is one of the most important of the four because it is when Frank and Rita first meet, when there personality is first shown and when there relationship starts to develop from nothing.
The second episode is slightly shorter than the first but it is still important because it shows the characters problems (mainly Rita’s) and it where Frank and Rita become closer because of what happened between her and her husband Denny. It also has one or two of contrasting situations.
At the start of the episode Rita goes home to find that Denny has found her pills hidden in her bedroom under the floor boards. He was very angry because he thought that they were trying for a baby. He thought that she was taking them because she would rather go to University to get a better education than have baby with him, so one by on he took her books and fed them to a bonfire in the garden. This made Rita most upset because she really wants her university degree and she has an essay to hand in which she was unable to do. The next scene after the fire is in the university grounds, with the open lawns, wooden benches and greenery which gave the picture of peace and space and the feeling of tranquillity. This shows a contrast between Frank and Rita’s worlds like in the first episode. Frank and Rita are brought closer and their relationship is developed further in this episode when she explains what happened between her and Denny and why her essay has not been done.
Frank and Rita’s worlds are contrasted further and the director develops the characters complexities more in the third episode. The scene starts with Rita trying to live in Frank’s world but can not face it and chickens out of the drink party. Rita being invited by Frank to socialise with his friends shows a big development in their relationship together because Frank invited her even with the chance of being shown up or embarrassed with her lower class behaviour, habits and personality. We know from this episode that Rita is not as confident within herself as she appears to be because the reason she went back to her lifestyle and chose the pub with her family over Frank's drink party is because she did not want to be the funny girl at the party as she would have been seen slightly different from everybody else. This episode also covers Rita's sisters wedding. At the wedding Rita's father is moaning at her as she is twenty seven and not married or pregnant (as it is fairly normal to be pregnant when married by Rita's age in her lifestyle. This contrasts with Frank's world because middle class women would be expected to be married before having any children). She does not want to marry Denny or get pregnant because she wants to find her true self and her full potential before she wastes the rest of her life. This is quite philosophical and thoughtful for someone with Rita's background and social class.
The final episode could also be seen as the most important because it is the time when Frank and Rita finally leave each other. This episode shows that there relationship together has developed to be good but not strong enough because even though Rita is very sad when she leaves Frank she did have the chance to go with him. I think that she decided it would be best to leave Frank rather than stay with him because even though she had come up a lot in the world since they met they were still two very different people. In this episode we know how much Frank and Rita needed and thought about each other because, he looked for her in a club at the start in a drunken state even though she was not there which showed how much he needs her, he looked through the door while she was doing her exams which showed his concern, she thought about him constantly through the test, he gave her a dress and asks her to go away with him and also she cuts his hair and tells what a good teacher he is. We also see how much Rita needs to help people when she is in hospital visiting her friend that tried to kill herself. We again see Rita's controlling personality in the fourth episode when she is telling him what to do even though it is in his own environment. The director develops their relationship even more right at the end of the film when it is time for them to leave each other. This is done by Frank emotionally telling Rita how well she did in her exams and Rita praising his teaching skills just as they are saying goodbye. After a final hug and when Frank goes onto the plane everything is over and Rita is left in the empty airport walking down a long vacant corridor on her own showing immense loneliness. The last thing in the film showing that Rita needs Frank as much as he needs her is when she takes one final look back but seeing know one there.
Those were the main four episodes showing how the director developed the characters complexities and their relationship together.
Characterisation is also used by the director to develop the complexities within Frank and Rita and their relationships with each other. This is how certain characters are made to appear to the audience and also how they react and respond with other characters.
Rita being very strong minded is controlling towards Frank and is often telling him what to do but this develops their relationship well because Frank is the kind of man that needs to be told and controlled. We know he needs Rita and needs to be controlled because his attempt of solving his problems is by drinking heavily amounts of alcohol. E.g. when he is looking for Rita in the disco and can not find her he starts drinking and ends up falling asleep on the grass outside the Berser’s home, whereas if he found her she would have ended up looking after him even if he was already drunk (because she needs to help people especially Frank). Another thing we know about Rita as a person is she may lack in self confidence even if she does appear very upfront. Evidence of this is that she once changed her name from Susan to Rita maybe to try and hide her real identity and also she was scared of going to Frank's drink party because she might appear or feel different from everyone else. Rita lacking in self confidence helps develop her and Frank's relationship because as they spent more time together and Rita changed her lifestyle to be more like Frank's she grew in confidence which made them stronger and more together.
Other than Frank another character that Rita reacts and responds with, which the director has used to develop her complexities is her husband Denny. From the start of the film they are not very close and things started to get worse when Rita decided to go to Open University. It all added to her problems when Denny found her pills and burnt her books. After Rita and Denny’s relationship was over they met in the street and he acted very patronising towards her. He joked about her clothes and hair and called her by her real name – Susie. She didn’t mind though because she didn’t want to be with a lowlife man like Denny, she wanted to be herself and not like the pregnant women Denny was with. I think that with Rita's new look she was not trying to hide her past and her social class but she had found her new self and image which she liked more than her short pink skirts and blonde hair. The good thing with the ending of Denny and Rita's relationship is that she was getting rid of some of her problems rather than getting more and it also allowed the director to continue to develop Frank and Rita’s relationship. This is slightly different from when Frank and his girlfriend split up because it was not his choice as she went off with another man. This made his problems worse by drinking more as he was lonely but it was also good because it gave Rita more a chance with him and to help him.
Other than characterisation another thing the director uses is language to try and develop their complexities and their relationship. This is achieved by the director giving Rita a simple vocabulary and making her language fit around her social class (lower). Her language contrasts that of Frank's because he has a wide range of vocabulary and is very well spoken as he comes from a higher class of background than Rita.
I think that the director chooses Frank and Rita's language well because is suits their characters.
The first example of a conflict in their language is right at the start of the film when Frank asks Rita who she is:
“And you are?”
Rita taking this the wrong way replies:
“I’m a what?”
This shows Rita does not understand what Frank meant by asking her, her name as she thinks he is saying she is something. This could be seen as starting to develop their relationship because Frank could feel the need to make Rita more like him but it also could develop her complexities because by taking something Frank says wrong she could feel stupid.
Another example like this is when Rita says (talking about an essay):
“I haven’t gorit!”
And Frank corrects her by saying:
“You don’t have it?”
Those were just two examples of the contrast in Frank and Rita's speech and how this contrast starts to develop both their complexities and their relationship.
The final thing that the director uses to develop Frank and Rita's relationship and also to develop their complexities is the director’s techniques linked with media.
In my opinion the best technique the director uses is music. I think this because he uses the same piece of music a couple of time is the film which could give certain parts or episodes a link. E.g. the same music is played while Denny is burning Rita's books as when Frank and Rita leave each other at the airport. These two scenes are linked with sadness. Even though these two scenes are linked they contrast each other in a way because while Denny is burning Rita's books she is gaining problems but when Frank and Rita are finally leaving each other their relationship has been developed fully because they are never going to see each other again so they realise how much they actually love and need one another.
Slightly different light classical music is played when Rita enters the University and when Frank and Rita first meet which links together with happiness rather than sadness.
Another contrast shown by music is in the second episode. This occurs because the music is showing romance between Rita and Frank when they meet at the start of the episode but also tension between Rita and Denny. This tension is brought about by Rita and Denny not saying a word while he is burning her books. This also makes it more dramatic because no words were used but music was played throughout showing their relationship is not good. The director used this technique to show Rita and Denny’s suffering relationship which is also the director’s way of developing her complexities which is the addition of her problems.
Other media techniques the director uses throughout the film and an example for each are: use of locations – switching from Frank and Rita's worlds, creation of mood by light and dark – Rita coming from her world in the darkness of the archway and into Frank's light world, use of humour – when Rita goes the wrong way after telling Frank he needs a hair cut, idea of tension – when Rita and Denny do not speak while her books are being burnt, opening and closing scenes – the film is opened with music with Rita coming into Frank world and ends with music with Rita leaving Frank and going back to her world and semioligy – the symbol of the statue in the light at night time when Frank is staggering around outside drunk. The final technique used by the director is mis-en-scene which is to put things into the picture. All these media techniques used in the film by the director are to help develop the relationship with Frank and Rita and to develop their complexities.
I conclude that in the film Educating Rita the main characters Rita and Frank have many problems. Some of Frank's include; drinking heavily and his girl friend having an affair and some of Rita's include; the brake up of her marriage and not having a good education to back up her University degree.
I have explored how the director develops the complexities in Frank and Rita and their relationship together during this essay and found that the director does it by having four separate episodes within the film which most concern each characters problems and their relationship with each other, using characterisation to make Frank and Rita have certain characteristics and to make them react and respond with each other in a way to develop their relationship and react and respond with other people in a way to develop their complexities, using different language for each Frank and Rita so that they have to develop their relationship to be able to communicate well with each other and also use media techniques which helps the development of their relationship and complexities by making the film more appealing and understanding to the audience so that they can relate with the characters better.