Mona Lisa Smile
Directed by:
Mike NewellCinematography:
Anastas N. MichosComposer:
Rachel PortmanCast:
Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Juliet Stevenson, Dominic West, Ginnifer Goodwin, Topher Grace, John Slattery (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Drama set in 1953 in Wellesley College, a prestigious women's college in New England with a student population of young women from respectable, privileged families. On the whole the girls, products of a time when women's roles were strictly defined, show more interest in marrying well than in achieving intellectual growth or artistic freedom. But when a new art history professor, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), begins teaching at the college, their repressed upbringings and narrow ideas are brought into question. A Berkeley graduate with progressive ideas, Watson sets out to stretch her students intellectually, and challenge their limited outlook on life. (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (3)
An old-fashioned film with charming actors. Everything is color-coordinated and it gives off an almost calming impression. Julia Roberts and Kirsten Dunst deliver their very high-quality performances, and the script is not bad either. Thematically appealing, but overall it feels a bit tedious.
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On the one hand, yes, it's a pretty interesting portrayal of the era with characters that are believable, but on the other hand, it has a very weak story. There's a happy ending at the end that seems almost forced, and suddenly you're supposed to like a character you've hated all along. You realize that they all suddenly become caricatures that say nothing, they just act for the story. Yes, it works, but that's normal for films like this. It's a pity that the film doesn't bring anything more to the table, as The Help did, with which Mona Lisa Smile has quite a lot in common.
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In the films The Hairy Bird and Dick, we have experienced the joys and sorrows of teenage life in the 1960s and 1970s together with Kirsten Dunst, and now we return to the 1950s in an arc and, thanks to Kirsten, once again experience the many paradoxes of a particular era. Where was the democratic progressive society of the USA a few years before World War II? In prehistoric times, folks.
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