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. 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 Seal for the movie. Julia Roberts received a record $25 million for her performance, the highest ever earned by an actress at that time.

Plot
In 1953, 30-year-old Katherine Ann Watson takes an Art History teaching position at Wellesley College. Katherine quickly discovers her students have memorized the entire textbook and syllabus, so she introduces modern art and encourages discussion about what is good art. Katherine comes to challenge her students to achieve more than marriage.

Opinionated Betty Warren is outspokenly conservative and insists a universal standard exists for what is good art. She writes editorials for the college paper and exposes campus nurse and lesbian, Amanda Armstrong, for supplying contraception, resulting in her termination. Other editorials attack Katherine for advocating that women seek careers in addition to marriage. Betty is eager to marry her fiancé, Spencer, and expects the traditional married-student exemptions; however, Katherine insists she will grade her based on merit and expects her to complete all assignments and tests. When her married life does not go smoothly, she begins taking out her frustrations on the other girls in the class, particularly Connie and Giselle.

Connie Baker is often ridiculed by Betty, who claims her cousin, Charlie, is only taking her to the dance as a favor. Connie attempts to leave after one dance but is surprised when Charlie expresses genuine interest in her. The two begin dating and go on holiday, where Charlie doesn't want to be seen by family friends. Connie breaks things off after Betty claims he is seeing another girl named Deb, who is the daughter of the couple Charlie avoided on their trip. She says Connie is just a casual fling. However, some weeks later, Connie and Charlie reconnect with him insisting that he had stopped seeing Deb the previous summer and had only begun seeing his current girlfriend after Connie was misled into cutting contact with him. Connie tearfully confronts Betty for lying and being hurtful, asking why Betty couldn't let her be happy. Later, Connie sees Charlie's date with another boy. She breaks into his dorm to ask for another chance and the two kiss, rekindling their relationship.

Joan Brandwyn considers studying law, so Katherine encourages her to apply to Yale Law School. Joan is accepted, but declines admission to instead marry Tom Donegal. She tells Katherine that choosing to be a wife and mother does not reduce her intelligence. Katherine expresses concern that Joan may regret not pursuing a career, but when Joan defends herself by explaining that prioritizing being a wife and mother is what she truly wants for her life, Katherine congratulates her and tells Joan to be happy.

Giselle Levy has liberal views about sex and has had several lovers, including Bill Dunbar, who she fell in love with. Although, she moves on from him when he and Katherine begin dating. She admires Katherine since the beginning for encouraging students to be independent but earns Betty's enmity as her own marriage falls apart.

Katherine's boyfriend from California, Paul, unexpectedly visits. He proposes but Katherine declines. Instead, she starts dating Wellesley Italian professor, Bill Dunbar. Bill is charming and tells a lot of stories about Europe and his heroic actions in Italy during the war. He also has had affairs with students, including Giselle. Katherine insists that he stop. She later learns though that contrary to his stories, during the entirety of the war, Bill was at the Army Languages Center on Long Island. She breaks up with him and Bill tells her that despite what she thinks, she did not come to Wellesley to help the students find their way, but rather find her own path.

Betty's marriage falls apart after Spencer is seen with another woman. Betty leaves him but her unsupportive mother demands she work things out with her husband. Betty visits Giselle in her dorm, at first attacking her for her promiscuity, then breaking down. Giselle is the only student who knows about Spencer's infidelity, having seen him with an unknown blonde while on her own date, and comforts Betty through her breakdown. Betty regrets maligning Katherine in her editorials. Eventually, Betty files for divorce, and she and Giselle plan to find an apartment in Greenwich Village. When Betty’s mother confronts her at graduation, Betty chastises her and credits Katherine as being the only one who supported her and vows to live her own life.

Although Wellesley administrators disapprove of Katherine's progressive teaching methods, her course is popular and so she is invited to return the next year under certain conditions: she must follow the school's syllabus, submit lesson plans for approval, stop giving students private advice, and maintain a strictly professional relationships with the rest of the faculty. Katherine resigns and decides to prepare to explore Europe instead. Betty dedicates her last editorial to Katherine, calling her "an extraordinary woman who lived by example and compelled us all to see the world through new eyes." As she leaves in a taxi, the students follow on their bikes, with Betty reaching out to say goodbye until the taxi speeds away.

Cast

 * Julia Roberts as Katherine Ann Watson
 * Kirsten Dunst as Elizabeth "Betty" Warren (Jones)
 * Julia Stiles as Joan Brandwyn (Donegal)
 * Maggie Gyllenhaal as Giselle Levy
 * Juliet Stevenson as Amanda Armstrong
 * Dominic West as Bill Dunbar
 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Constance "Connie" Baker
 * Topher Grace as Tommy Donegal
 * John Slattery as Paul Moore
 * Marcia Gay Harden as Nancy Abbey
 * Jordan Bridges as Spencer Jones
 * Marian Seldes as President Jocelyn Carr
 * Donna Mitchell as Mrs. Warren
 * Terence Rigby as Dr. Edward Staunton
 * Laura Allen as Susan Delacorte
 * Tori Amos as wedding singer
 * Emily Bauer as a student
 * Lisa Roberts Gillan as Miss Albini
 * Annika Marks as a student
 * Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Charlie Stewart
 * Lily Rabe as a student
 * Krysten Ritter as a student

Production
Melanie Lynskey auditioned for the roles of Connie and Giselle.

Box office
In its first weekend, Mona Lisa Smile opened at number two at the U.S. box office, earning US$11,528,498 behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. By the end of its run, while the film had grossed a respectable $141,337,989 worldwide, its U.S. domestic gross did not meet its $65 million budget, falling short at $63,860,942.

Reception
Mona Lisa Smile received mixed to negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a approval rating based on  reviews, with an average score of  and a consensus: "Though Mona Lisa Smile espouses the value of breaking barriers, the movie itself is predictable." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

In a typical review, Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote, "it's Dead Poets Society as a chick flick, without the compelling drama and inspiration... even Roberts doesn't seem convinced. She gives a rather blah performance as if she's not fully committed to the role... Rather than being a fascinating exploration of a much more constrained time in our social history, the film simply feels anachronistic. The film deserves a solid 'C' for mediocrity and muted appeal." Critic Elizabeth M. Tamny of the Chicago Reader shared this negative assessment, writing "Part of the problem is simply that Mona Lisa Smile is a Hollywood film, and Hollywood isn't good at depicting the life of the mind... And Julia Roberts is no help--you either like her or you don't, but either way it has little to do with talent. She's not so much an actor as a vessel for earnest reactions. The fact is... It's easier to take on an extremely black-and-white version of the most salient question from this film - can women bake their cake and eat it too? - than try to answer it in the present."

David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "What drew the usually astute Mike Newell (' Four Weddings and a Funeral ', ' Donnie Brasco ') to this project? There are hints that the script (credited to Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner) may once have had more shadings - a suggestion that Katherine's idealism is a form of power-tripping; that she's afraid of intimacy - but any ambiguity is quickly brushed aside to make way for the Julia lovefest. Newell, no hack, tries not to milk the cliches shamelessly, and that may be the movie's final undoing. Lacking the courage of its own vulgarity, 'Mona Lisa Smile ' is as tepid as old bathwater."

Reaction from Wellesley and Wellesley alumnae
The college issued an official statement explaining their decision to allow the film to shoot on campus.

In a message to Wellesley alumnae concerning the film, Wellesley College president Diana Chapman Walsh expressed regret about some of the reactions it generated, given that many alumnae from the 1950s felt that the film's portrayal of Wellesley was inaccurate.