An Education all but blew the marquee off the Egyptian Theater, where over 100 latecomers were turned away onto a swarming Main Street before director Lone Scherfig nervously announced not even she had yet seen her film outside the lab. She had nothing to worry about: Led by 23-year-old Carey Mulligan in a breakthrough that makes Ellen Page's Juno turn look like a Lifetime reject, Scherfig's ensemble cast wrings a spry, otherworldly beauty from Nick Hornby's script and its corrosive glare at early '60s London. We have no idea if it's the festival's best film, as some have said, but if there is a likelier candidate for life beyond Park City —- as in awards-season, even canonical immortality — let's have it.

Mulligan plays Jenny, a middle-class 16-year-old with an eye on Oxford and a weakness for David (Peter Sarsgaard), the 30-something suitor who charms her domineering parents and introduces the girl to his swinging society lifestyle in the city. Suddenly determined to cultivate the high life, Jenny subordinates her studies in favor of romance, travel and adventure — naturally too good to be true, as David's professional and personal indiscretions soon reveal.

The chemistry between Sarsgaard and Mulligan — who yields an equally, almost unfairly sublime secondary performance in the otherwise blah The Greatest — would be enough to recommend An Education; as predatory as he is tender, Sarsgaard's David respects his intellectual match in Jenny even as he erodes her independence. And Mulligan, with a face as vulnerable and expressive as the soft smoke burnishing her voice, radiates authority even in the push-pull of submission. But abetted by supporting cast Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams and, in a haunting late cameo, Sally Hawkins, the lovers' respective endgames have their own charismatic coaching staffs watching from the sidelines and an able, attentive referee in Scherfig.

You can't really fuck up technically with talent like this, but you can overblow the prestige. The blockbuster Sunday premiere did neither, instead confirming Mulligan's arrival and An Education's status as one of the four or five most coveted competition titles of the festival. No sooner had the lights gone up than Sony Classics co-president Michael Barker and his deputy Dylan Leiner raced out of the theater; we hold fast to our prediction that it's their acquisition to lose, but who knows at this point, and who even cares? For another four or five Sundance audiences this week, the future is pretty much now. See it while — and whenever — you can.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Pater Sarsgaard, their cute baby and Maggie's mom (I'm guessing) were all eating sandwiches at the Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station around 2pm this afternoon. They looked like Marin Country natives in fleeces and hiking boots. Must have been recovering from the Manka's fire (damn shame; I spent my honeymoon there and the food was amazing). No Jake in sight. Maggie was complaining about how cold it was and Peter was taking pictures of the baby.

We're in the dark about Jake's whereabouts—he could well still have been at the fire site, doing his menschly duty by helping Manka's chef and co-owner Daniel DeLong sift through the charred rubble. Alternately, he might be running for his life in his boxer shorts down a dirt road from a throng of female and Jake-friendly Bay Area vacationers and locals, waving autograph books in hand and screaming about how much extra bed space they have at their place.

• Previously: Falling Trees And Fire Intrude Upon A Quiet Gyllenhaal Christmas [Defamer]

Bear witness to an IM conversation I just had with One Lucky Bitch:

OLB: [I just saw] the entire Gyllenhaal family, including Peter and the baby!! They literally sat 4 feet away from us at the next table. AND I know what Jake got for Christmas

Me: Noooooo! WHAT?? How did Jake look?? What is their baby's name? Ramona?

OLB: Something like that. Anyways, he got...

Me: (please say underwear)
OLB: A pair of cashmere socks, a british tea set, and a hanging garden wooden chime.
Me: How totally sweet
OLB: And slightly gay. Jake looked adorable in his grey Polo cardigan
Me: Aw, I love him.

We applaud the Gyllenhaals' artisanal choices, whose sentimental value will only increase with time where a monogrammed Gucci script protector might not. And while it's all too easy to write these delicate, handcrafted items off as "gay," we'd argue that there is nothing more virile than a man comfortable enough in his own masculinity to be able to provide for his special woman a complete outdoor tea service under the enchanted notes of a garden wind chime, followed by a delightful variety show starring his uproarious sock puppet friends.

*As a commenter pointed out, today was Jake's birthday, making these not early Christmas gifts, but birthday gifts. We'd love to blame One Lucky Bitch, but we really should know better. Happy birthday, Your Dreaminess!
** As a second commenter pointed out, Jake's mother is Jewish, therefore adding the possibility that these were in fact Hannukah gifts. Since we have already acknowledged that today was his birthday, however, we'll assume the windchimes, tea set and socks were his birthday gifts, and that Jake will receive Chrismukkah gifts under separate cover, so that he isn't made to feel as if his special day is being overshadowed by the holidays.

• Stars, They're Just Like Us: 6 Days of Christmas Edition [Mad Megan's Blog]

WHO: Peter Sarsgaard affectionately loving girlfriend Maggie Gyllenhaal with her brother Jake smilingly with approval.

WHEN: 2 pm today, Mon. Nov. 28

WHERE: M Cafe de Chaya, a gourmet macrobiotic place on Melrose right off La Brea.

They are all so beautiful/talented/winning I can't even take it.

If you're in the area and surfing the internet wirelessly, perhaps you can still catch the happy threesome indulging in a delicious soy crème brulee.

UPDATE: Another reader spots the Gyllenhaals at lunch, and raises us a Sarah Silverman:

Melrose and LaBrea was somewhat happening this afternoon. Opting to play healthy at M Cafe de Chaya (rather than wait around at Pink's), were jarheads Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal along with girlfriend/sister (respectively, one hopes) Maggie Gyllenhaal. I had to double check the spelling of their names; that's more AA's than I'm accustomed to. The power-trio fiddled around with a patio umbrella for a little too long, drawing attention to their ultimately fruitless shade-seeking efforts. Inside and out of the sun were Sarah Silverman and a friend, looking post-workout. Today, she was not eating jelly off of her boyfriend's penis. Rather, she was eating a macrobiotic chopped salad off of her boyfriend's penis.

• Hollywood PrivacyWatch Holiday Edition: A Very Marky Mark Thanksgiving [Defamer]