But, you're wondering, how can I identify with a 30ish teacher and her 20ish female students? Set in 1953, Katherine Watson (Roberts) is a free-spirited graduate of UCLA who accepts a teaching post at Wellesley College, a women-only school where the students are torn between the repressive mores of the time and their longing for intellectual freedom. Directed by … She is not an obvious choice as Wellesley is an exclusive upper crust institution where its faculty, students and alumni generally look down upon "State" universities. The movie, directed by Mike Newell , may be a little too aware of its sexual politics and might have been more absorbing if Katherine and her students were fighting their way together out of the chains of gender … Mona Lisa Smile Film Analysis The Herd vs. Mona Lisa is much more a romance set against a backdrop of criminal violence. The protagonist of the motion picture, Katherine Watson (played by Julia Roberts), is shown to be one of the most brawny, independent and liberal thinkers of her time. The Script of Movie “Mona Lisa Smile” 4. Plot Keywords The Other The herd is clearly represented by Betty's mom. Watson herself has a fairly lively love life, with a boyfriend in California (John Slattery) and now a warmth for the abovementioned studly Italian teacher (Dominic West), although it is probably not true, as a student rumor has it, that she had to come east because of a torrid affair with William Holden. The students are amongst the brightest women in the Taking place in 1953, Mona Lisa Smile is a fictional drama that depicts the everyday lives of proper schoolgirls at Wellesley College. | Katherine Watson is smart and brave and stands by her beliefs, and so of course she reminds us of ourselves. Mona Lisa Smile Themes 740 Words 3 Pages Mona Lisa Smile “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I always knew the woman I wanted to be” quoted Diane Von Furstenberg, which describes the prestigious all-female Wellesley College in the movie “Mona Lisa Smile.” Mona Lisa Smile is a 2003 American drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. She's possibly the only contemporary actor who simply owns a movie the way Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, or Claudette Colbert once did, radiating a engaging mix of intelligence, drive, and emotional warmth that cannot be matched. This movie is very interesting because give us an example of what kind of teacher have we to be. Summary: Mona Lisa Smile movie trailer - starring Kirsten Dunst, Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julia Stiles, Dominic West, Ginnifer Goodwin. Mona Lisa Smile Movie Rating PG-13, 1 hr 57 min Movie More Info Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. She insists of putting together all of Betty's wedding plans so that they will be acceptable to society. I love it to bits. The movie, directed by Mike Newell, may be a little too aware of its sexual politics and might have been more absorbing if Katherine and her students were fighting their way together out of the chains of gender slavery. Julia Roberts plays a 1950s liberal female professor who encounters a few hurdles while trying to pass the same values along to her traditional Wellesley art students. There are pockets of free thinking among faculty and the students, but those thoughts and associated actions are generally quashed by the overall tone of the school. Be the first to contribute! Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Mona Lisa Smile. Set in 1953, Katherine Watson (Roberts) is a free-spirited graduate of UCLA who accepts a teaching post at Wellesley College, a women-only school where the students are torn between the repressive mores of the time and their longing for intellectual freedom. Their parents and the school administration foster a predetermined path in life for the girls, namely to stick to traditional mores and thoughts, with the primary goal of marrying into a good family. For instance, a woman is shown to be devastated when her husband ignores her in favor of long business trips and other women. My granddaughters like to watch movies over and over. This process is beautifully portrayed in Mona Lisa Smile. A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles. Katherine Watson, an Oakland State University Ph.D. student, is hired as an Art History instructor at Wellesley College for the 1953/54 school year. However, these same people look at her as an adult and realize that she is smiling. Katherine Ann Watson has accepted a position teaching art history at the prestigious Wellesley College. Neither were the screenwriters, who reportedly based their screenplay on Hillary Clinton's experience at Wellesley in the early 1960s. Unlike the typical heroes of movies about inspiring teachers, however, she doesn't think the answer lies in exuberance, freedom and letting it all hang out, but in actually studying and doing the work, and she despairs when competent students throw away their futures (as she sees it) for marriage to men who have already started to cheat before their wedding days. For the most part, the students all seem to be biding their time, waiting to find the right man to marry. However, her liberal views are out of place in the conservative1950s. Indeed, Mona Lisa Smile includes many “positive” elements that are ultimately sullied by the overarching messages that surround them. Taglines She tells the competent but conservative school president (Marian Seldes), "I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow's leaders -- not their wives." Make a difference is our work because we are a model for our students, use new methods to learn is ok but we have to take the decision to be different. Altough a strong bond is formed between teacher and student, Watson's views are incompatible with the dominant culture of the college. Summary of Movie “Mona Lisa Smile” 3. Katherine quickly learns that her paper credentials do affect how her students treat her. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features It doesn't just grind out the formula, but seems more like the record of an actual school year than about the needs of the plot. Mona Lisa Smile is a smart and provocative period drama that's especially well-crafted. The main character is a teacher that represents the brave, intelligent individuals that broke ground for women to pursue equality. In "Mona Lisa," he plays one of his most evil villains, a slimebag who trades in the lives and happiness of naive young women, and he plays the character without apology and without exaggeration, as a … Financial analysis of Mona Lisa Smile (2003) including budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports, total earnings and profitability. This is the kind of school which actually offers classes in deportment, grooming and table setting, and the teacher of those classes, Nancy Abbey (Marcia Gay Harden) takes them so seriously that we begin to understand the system that produced Cathy Whitaker, Julianne Moore's showpiece wife in last year's "Far From Heaven." Later, when Betty finds out her In the delicate dance of audience identification, we get to be both the teacher and her students -- to imagine ourselves as a free spirit in a closed system, and as a student whose life is forever changed by her. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. — Colin Tinto . Plot summary. Mona Lisa Smile movie reviews & Metacritic score: Set at all-female Wellesley College in 1953, this is an uplifting and poignant drama about one woman's desire to enrich the lives of her students. Conclusion I think this movie calls Mona Lisa’s smile because she always was smiling like Mona Lisa. Everything from “this movies doesn’t make sense,” to 6. She also learns that the students are book smart, but do not know how to think for themselves. George (Bob Hoskins), after getting out of prison, begins looking for a job, but his time in prison has reduced his stature in the criminal underworld. The students are all very bright and Watson feels they are not reaching their potential. Julia Roberts received a … | Julia Roberts is above all an actress with a winning way; we like her, feel protective toward her, want her to prevail. The major supporting roles are played by luminaries of the first post-Julia generation, including not only Dunst, but Julia Stiles as Joan Brandwyn, a girl smart enough to be accepted by Yale Law but perhaps not smart enough to choose it over marriage; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Giselle Levy, who is sexually advanced and has even, it is said, slept with the studly young Italian professor, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Constance Baker, who is too concerned about her looks. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. The film is about Katherine Watson, a college lecturer from liberal-minded California, who manages to get a teaching position in the Art History Department at Wellesley, a prestigious, conservative, and elite private women's college situated at the opposite end of the country in Massachusetts. Mona Lisa Smile is an exploration of a time and place, after the war, where rebellion and individuality were very much frowned upon, yet the seeds of change had already taken root. Will the students and administration allow Katherine to be contrary to the prescribed thought? I can't even express my love for this story. The film shows a school which teaches, above all, that a woman's duty is to stand by her man, and if Clinton learned that, she also learned a good deal more. This is an example of the Mandela Effect that has been studied by art The movie is not really about her romances at all, but about her function as a teacher and her determination to install feminism on the campus before that noun was widely in use. Don't you find yourself identifying with just about anybody on the screen, if the movie is really working? Some reviewers on this site claim the movie has a liberal agenda. Mona Lisa Smile Plot summary Mona Lisa Smile tells the story of Katherine Ann Watson (played by Julia Roberts), a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA graduate school and left as a first-year teacher from "Oakland State" University (thought to be a In 1953, free spirited and non-orthodox art history teacher Katherine Ann Watson accepts the challenge of teaching in the conservative Wellesley College. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. This is a movie that will lift you up and make you smile. Bob Hoskins stars in his greatest role ever. Katherine decides to instill into her students her own beliefs of what is important in learning. But without question, Mona Lisa Smile rides on Roberts's shoulders and she carries it with ease. The title is a reference to the Mona Lisa, the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and to the song of the same name, originally performed by Nat King Cole, which was covered by Sealfor the movie. I find it hard to believe that Wellesley College was as reactionary in the autumn of 1953 as "Mona Lisa Smile" says it is -- but then I wasn't there. The movie Mona Lisa Smile takes place in a setting that would make a modern woman become incensed (Newell, 2003). Mona Lisa’s Smile People who saw the Mona Lisa as a child seem to remember her being very serious. No doubt she had a teacher as inspiring as Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who trades in the bohemian freedom of Berkeley for a crack at Wellesley's future corporate wives. In "Mona Lisa Smile," she is the conduit for the plot, which flows through her character. It is an intelligent historical drama that tells a familiar story in a new and inspiring way. We are pretty sure what the story parabola of "Mona Lisa Smile" will be (the inspiring teacher will overcome adversity to enlighten and guide), but the movie is more observant and thoughtful than we expect. Analysis on the movie Mona Lisa Smile Essay Sample My Grandma’s really into buying bootleg DVD’s at the Flea Market and picked up Mona Lisa Smile. I didn’t see it in theaters but I heard awful reviews of it. On the first day, her class fails under the leadership of the arrogant Betty Warren and her friends Joan Brandwyn and Giselle Levy, but Katherine is advised by her mates and the Italian teacher Bill Dunbar to not fear the students. The movie is not really about her romances at all, but about her function as a teacher and her determination to install feminism on the campus before that noun was widely in use. MONA LISA SMILE adds up to glossy entertainment that is a long way from art. | for sexual content and thematic issues, I Will Not Forget You: Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad, The Kind of Stuff That Opens You Up as a Human Being: Simon Baker on High Ground, The End of an Era: Norman Lloyd, 1914-2021, True/False Festival 2021: Highlights of a Virtual Event. Parents Guide. This is the novelization of one of my favourite movies 'Mona Lisa Smile'. The movie begins with Katherine Watson coming up in the classroom of Ivy league brats to teach them about art history. The Picture of Movie “Mona Lisa Smile” 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. mona lisa smile 1 film synopsis Progressive teacher Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) arrives at the prestigious, conservative all-women college of Wellesley in the autumn of 1953 to teach History of Art. A child seem to remember her being very serious same People look at her an. The most part, the students all seem to be get great examples how. 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