Educating Rita is a 1983 film based upon Willy Russell's play of the same title directed by Lewis Gilbert and stars Julie Walters, Michael Caine, and Maureen Lipman with a screenplay by Russell. A Liverpudlian working-class girl wants to better herself by studying literature. Her assigned Open University professor, however, has long since openly taken to the bottle, and soon develops misgivings about her ability to adapt to academia. Frank is a jaded university lecturer, who describes his occupational ability as 'appalling but good enough for his appalling students'. His passion for the... subject is reignited by Rita , whose technical ability for the subject is limited by her lack of education but whose enthusiasm Frank finds refreshing. The film focuses on how Rita struggles to still interact with her peers from her own working class background, but similarly struggles to fit into the educated middle-class. Rita's original preconceptions of the educated classes having better lives and being happier people are brought into question throughout the film through Frank's failing social life and alcoholism and her flatmate Trish's attempted suicide.
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| Release date: | September 21, 1983 |
| Directed by: | Lewis Gilbert |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 110 Minutes |
| Producer: | Lewis Gilbert |
| Screenplay by: | Willy Russell |
| Adapted from: | Educating Rita |
| Genre: | Comedy |