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Educating Rita

Educating Rita

Drama · Comedy · 1983

Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to 'discover' herself, so she joins the Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge... and along comes Rita.

Movie details

Educating Rita

“Sometimes students end up being the best teachers.”

1983 Drama · Comedy 1h 46m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to 'discover' herself, so she joins the Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge... and along comes Rita.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Educating Rita?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Lewis Gilbert

Written by

Willy Russell

Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Dr. Frank Bryant

Julie Walters

Julie Walters

Rita Susan White

Michael Williams

Michael Williams

Brian

Maureen Lipman

Maureen Lipman

Trish

Jeananne Crowley

Jeananne Crowley

Julia

Malcolm Douglas

Malcolm Douglas

Denny

Godfrey Quigley

Godfrey Quigley

Rita's Father

Court is in session

Put Educating Rita on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.