I know I promised I’d be posting the nominees for my 2009 awards this week, but circumstances have prevented me. I’ll get that to that as soon as possible; by the end of next week probably. However, in the meantime I’ll take a break from Season Two of my running Forgotten Characters’ feature to take a look at the Forgotten Characters of 2009.
One simple way to become a forgotten character is to be an unknown actor in a nondescript role. It’s a sure-fire to become forgotten – even if your film goes on to become an Oscar nominee and whatnot. Last year we had a few forgotten characters (who I’ll hopefully cover over the next few weeks) and none of them epitomises that like this next entry:
Matthew Beard in An Education
As Graham
We first meet Graham as he and Jenny practise their violin, then subsequently he questions Jenny about the upcoming Sunday dinner at her house. Graham’s chronic nervousness is palpable. He’s the typical reticent schoolboy. His next scene for tea at the Mellor’s his most screen time as Graham suggests taking a year off to Jack who begins his tirade. Beard’s facial expressions are appropriate and a bit sad when we consider his situation. We may never have experienced it, but the situation of the self-conscious school boy facing the irate father is not a new one. I love Mulligan’s expression as he makes his response in that inaccurate French of his: “Mr. Mellor…I’m not a teddy boy. I’m an homme serieux. Jeune. An homme jeune serieux home.” We later see Graham as Jenny brushes him off, as her friend says she doesn’t have time for boys. His final appearance at that catastrophic birthday meeting is sad. I love his expression as he pulls out his uninventive (but useful) present – the Latin dictionary. His last appearance as he tries to catch Jenny’s eye amid the hubbub of David’s arrival is quite pathetic actually.
Still, Graham’s appearance in An Education is not extraneous. Jenny is such an anomaly because despite her prodigious educational talent she is still a hopeless schoolgirl; the type of schoolgirl who passes over the Grahams in the world for the Davids. It doesn’t make her a villain, it just highlights her immaturity. An Education is wrought with short appearances from actors but at the end of it all as I see Jenny riding on her bike at Oxford I couldn’t help but wonder what had become of Graham…
What are your thoughts on Beard's Graham? Is he justly forgotten? …Or a sympathetic oaf?
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