Jenny (Mulligan) is a clever but rebellious schoolgirl on the verge of adult life. She seems to be on course for a place at Oxford, but encounters with a charming, well-dressed thirtysomething with a sports car (Sarsgaard) tempt her down another road altogether. Her new, edgy lifestyle is liberating and exciting, but can this older man and his glamorous friends really be trusted? A-Levels and interviews are on the horizon, but even Jenny’s own parents are won over by David’s charisma; the world is her oyster, what path will she take?

Nick Hornby’s adaptation of autobiography makes for compelling viewing, and yet avoids falling down the well-trodden paths of typical coming-ofage movies, period dramas and tragedies of victimisation. The film is based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber, and director Lone Scherfig equally brings 1962 London to life with a great richness of detail. Her direction focuses even more on making the characters themselves multidimensional, and it’s a joy to watch veterans like Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina in thoroughly realistic parent-child/teacher-pupil relationships with the film’s younger cast. Newcomer Carey Mulligan is almost always onscreen, but her presence never tires. She has received rave reviews for a performance which exhibits a star in the making.