Educating Rita

Rita is a 26-year-old hairdresser from a working-class background who feels stuck in a routine she never chose. Wanting something more substantial, she enrols in an Open University course in English literature. There she meets Dr. Frank Bryant, a literature professor whose marriage has collapsed and whose drinking has left him disillusioned with his work. Their tutorials bring an unhappy teacher and a restless student together, and the changes Rita goes through affect both of them and the people close to her.

The film was directed by Lewis Gilbert, who also produced it, from a screenplay by Willy Russell. It followed a run of large-scale productions in Gilbert's career: after Alfie, the James Bond entries You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, and Operation: Daybreak, he turned to this smaller, dialogue-driven story. Michael Caine plays Frank and Julie Walters plays Rita, with Michael Williams, Maureen Lipman, Jeananne Crowley and Malcolm Douglas in supporting roles; twenty-eight cast members are credited in total.

Educating Rita was released on 16 June 1983 and runs 106 minutes. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 211 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.2 out of 10 from 17 reviews, higher than the audience figure.