CASEY PHILLIPS: At first, Carey Mulligan and “Precious” actress Gabourey Sidibe could hardly be more different, but their biographies now share striking similarities since both are in their mid-20s and recently earned Academy Award nominations for leading-role debuts portraying 16-year-olds facing very adult situations.
Creepy.
Mulligan plays Jenny, a British schoolgirl disillusioned with the soulless life society expects her to lead after graduating (fingers crossed) from Oxford. She would much rather smoke cigarettes and listen to black-clad, French singers, thank you very much.
In Peter Sarsgaard’s David, she discovers an escape from these social confines to an ostensibly glamorous life of sports cars and weekend trips to Paris. Unfortunately, the price is her youthful innocence, and Mulligan’s performance nails the emotional toll of that transaction.