MONA LISA SMILE

REVIEWED BY AVA CARMICHAEL

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: adultery, feminist viewpoints, lesbianism

Rated:

In the fall of 1953 Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) has just been hired to teach art history at Wellesley College, a conservative and prestigious college for wealthy women. She moves from California to New England and leaves behind her boyfriend Paul. Katherine wants to make a difference in the world by inspiring her students to fulfill their potential in life. At Wellesley she enters a new world of tradition that isn’t used to change. Her ideas surprise her colleagues and the students. Not everyone is happy with Katherine’s ways and they fight her teaching methods as they try to hold on to tradition.

Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) is a bright young student,  the daughter of an influential family and the editor of the college newspaper. She uses her college column and influence to hurt others. Betty highly opposes Katherine’s ideas and fights to keep on to traditional ways. One can hardly blame Betty after the way she’s been brought up. Her family has raised her to pursue education, then marriage and to keep the appearance of a happy life. Betty gets married and fulfills her mom’s expectations but doesn’t find happiness. It’s clear that Betty’s unhappy in the marriage. Her husband doesn’t love her and has an affair. Her mother doesn’t offer Betty much comfort, even when her daughter comes to her in tears. Mrs. Warren just tells her to go home, wipe away her tears and wait for her husband to come home. [SPOILER] Later on, Betty files for a divorce and decides to do something else with her life. No one should get married just because it's expected! The movie challenges why we do things. Is it because of tradition or because we really want to? Don’t do something because of tradition but do it because its what you want. [END OF SPOILER]

Joan (Julia Stiles) is another bright girl who is encouraged by Katherine to pursue both career and marriage. When she decides all she truly wants is to be a wife and mother, Katherine is very disappointed. Joan tells Katherine being a housewife isn’t a bad thing like Katherine thinks it is. After all, it's her choice, she knows what options there are now that she’s met Katherine, and she wants a more traditional role since its her dream. The movie follows several different girls. Some find happiness and others find heartbreak. It’s sad to see the way some of these girls live. It’s clear some are unhappy but aren’t sure of which way to go in life. Sometimes Katherine can be inspiring but the girls need to hear something else besides a "be all that you can be" message.

There is a lot of objectionable content. One of Katherine’s roommates (who is also the school nurse) gets fired after handing out birth control to students. When Betty Warren finds out what the school nurse does, she immediately writes in her editorial that the school nurse condones promiscuity and therefore is a threat to Wellesley principles. Betty does the same with Katherine later on in the movie. The girls indulge in promiscuous relationships, smoking and drinking. Even single Katherine sleeps with current beaus. Sex isn’t shown but is clearly implied. There are also sexual jokes, and one of the teachers sleeps around with his students. Katherine goes on to have a short sexual relationship with this man. One day she sneaks into his house and rips open the shower curtains but instead finds his friend. Nothing is shown except the man’s chest. There's classic nudity in artwork. 

Student’s and even a teacher get drunk. There is also a lot of profanity. There are small references to homosexuality; one girl is more affectionate than she should be. A student sleeps around with a man even though she knows he is married. Some of the students purposefully hurt one another. When a girl in Betty’s circle of friends finds happiness with a guy, Betty tells her the guy is two-timing her. The girl believes Betty because of certain circumstances and misunderstandings but soon learns she was lied to. The girl restores her relationship with the guy and the two find happiness together. But there are also a few positive messages. Katherine is a great teacher who challenges her students to think out of the box. She wants them to think for themselves, to follow their goals and dreams in life and not the expectations of others. Even though Katherine’s ideas are new and different, some of the girls embrace Katherine’s positive messages and Wellesley college is a much better place now that she's come and made a difference. 

Mona Lisa Smile doesn’t know what it wants to be. Katherine wants her students to go beyond their role of wife and mother and at the same time she puts down the idea of choosing a more traditional role. Each woman is different and each one has different goals and dreams in life; true feminism doesn’t put down what different women choose, but rather respects the choice of each woman. That’s what the movie’s message should have been but it doesn’t drive that point very well. And on top of that it was very dull.