Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Director:

Mike Newell

Writers (WGA):

Lawrence Konner (written by) &
Mark Rosenthal (written by)

Release Date:

19 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In a world that told them how to think, she showed them how to live.

Plot:

A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 50's Wellesley girls to question their traditional societal roles.

Plot Keywords:

Bittersweet | School | College Life | Love | Student

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Julia Roberts	...	Katherine Ann Watson
Kirsten Dunst	...	Betty Warren
Julia Stiles	...	Joan Brandwyn
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Giselle Levy
Ginnifer Goodwin	...	Connie Baker
Dominic West	...	Bill Dunbar
Juliet Stevenson	...	Amanda Armstrong
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Nancy Abbey
John Slattery	...	Paul Moore
Marian Seldes	...	President Jocelyn Carr
Donna Mitchell	...	Mrs. Warren
Terence Rigby	...	Dr. Edward Staunton
Jennie Eisenhower	...	Girl at the Station
Leslie Lyles	...	Housing Director
Laura Allen	...	Susan Delacorte

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and thematic issues.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Finland:S | Canada:G (British Columbia/Ontario/Quebec) | Brazil:12 | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Hong Kong:IIA | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7

Filming Locations:

Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In order to prepare for their roles, the leads were all put through a finishing school two weeks prior to filming.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The slide of the Sistine Chapel in Katherine's Christmas present is a photo of the Chapel ceiling after it was restored in the 1990s.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Betty Warren: [voiceover] All her life, she had wanted to teach at Wellesley College. So, when a position opened in the Art History department, she pursued it single-mindedly until she was hired. It was whispered that Katherine Watson, a first-year teacher from Oakland State, made up in brains what she lacked in pedigree. Which was why this bohemian from California was on her way to the most conservative college in the nation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Jennifer Aniston/Black Eyed Peas (#29.9)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

No Moon at All

A disappointing picture of Wellesley College in 1953

As a graduate of Wellesley College, 1952, I was eager to see the movie. For a while I thought maybe it was supposed to be a satire. I had read reviews but no one mentioned satire. It was so ludicrous, so over the top, so busy giving us stereotypes, and so far from my experience that it was depressing. I didn't mind the Julia Roberts character although she is probably anachronistic. Certainly those young women, so well dressed for classes, talking back to her in well thought out sentences full of vitriol were figments of Hollywood's imagination. I remember no courses offered, either in classrooms or rooms in dorms or faculty housing, on "poise," proper table setting, etc. And nowhere in the movie did any of the girls discuss ideas (except in the art class). The nighttime dormitory sessions were all about men, getting husbands, and pointing fingers at Giselle, the "whore." In actuality, we used to stay up late discussing ideas, and we were passionate about such things as academic freedom.

The plush dormitory rooms were more figments of Hollywood's imagination. Our rooms were of the bare bones variety. I remember bringing a comfortable chair of my own from home.

I loved my art history and music appreciation courses. They changed my life. I had known nothing of art before Wellesley and only the Warsaw Concerto for classical music. But those two courses informed my life and have stayed with me all these years, enriching my experience. I had a career as a high school English teacher and my literature courses were wonderful for that purpose and for expanding my reading. But the art and music courses were special.

Good acting; good costumes for the most part; the people looked authentic for the times (except too dressed up for class; we wore skirts and blouses, no blue jeans). It was nice to see some of the beautiful campus. I don't remember ever taking part in hoop rolling, daisy chain, the opening day ceremony in front of the chapel.

Finally, what was the point of making such a movie today? To suggest how far we've come from the 1950s? To ridicule what was then? After all, there was much that was good. I mean I feel so lucky to have been able to go to a place like Wellesley even if it was for the privileged. It certainly was not as conservative as the movie depicted; nor was it a "finishing school." Professors were continually opening our minds to more and more knowledge. The canon then may have been mostly men (we read almost all male writers in our English courses, but that's how it was). What was wonderful, however, was being with all women, being able to speak up freely in class, being able to win positions of authority in extra curricular organizations like the college newspaper. Not having to compete with men.

I was really disappointed, In the Women's Room after the movie, I questioned everyone there...there were a couple my age or a little younger and then a few a generation or more younger. Everyone had liked the movie! One young woman tried to tell me it wasn't just about Wellesley; they were depicting the 50s in general. But the fact is the 50s in general were not that dismal!