Mona Lisa Smile

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Mona Lisa Smile
Monalisasmile.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mike Newell
Written by
Produced byElaine Goldsmith-Thomas
Deborah Schindler
Paul Schiff
Starring
CinematographyAnastas Michos
Edited by Mick Audsley
Music by Rachel Portman
Production
companies
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • December 19, 2003 (2003-12-19)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Italian
Budget$72.3 million [1]
Box office$141.3 million [2]

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. [3]

Contents

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 becomes challenged to encourage 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.

Connie Baker begins dating Betty's cousin, Charlie, but breaks it off after Betty claims he is seeing another girl named Deb. 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. Connie later angrily confronts Betty for being hurtful and lying.

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 says she will eventually regret her decision.

Giselle Levy has liberal views about sex and has had several lovers. She admires Katherine for encouraging students to be independent, while earning Betty's enmity.

Katherine's California boyfriend, Paul, unexpectedly visits. Katherine declines Paul's marriage proposal and begins seeing Wellesley Italian professor, Bill Dunbar. Bill is charming and has many stories about Europe and his heroic actions in Italy during the war. He also has had affairs with students, including Giselle. Katherine insists he stop. When Katherine later learns Bill spent the entire war at the Army Languages Center on Long Island, she breaks up with him. Bill claims she did not come to Wellesley to help the students find their way, but rather 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 and accepting her sympathy and support. 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, 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, but because her course is popular, she is invited to return the next year, but 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 relationship with all faculty. Katherine resigns and prepares to explore Europe. 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 bicycles, with Betty reaching out to say goodbye until the taxi speeds away.

Cast

Production

Melanie Lynskey auditioned for the roles of Connie and Giselle. [4]

Soundtrack

Mona Lisa Smile
Soundtrack album by
Various
ReleasedDecember 19, 2003
Genre Jazz  • easy listening  • big band
Length48:27
Label Sony Music
No.TitlePerformerLength
1."Mona Lisa" Seal 3:11
2."You Belong to Me" Tori Amos 3:03
3."Bewitched" Celine Dion 2:45
4."The Heart of Every Girl" Elton John 3:40
5."Santa Baby" Macy Gray 3:29
6."Murder, He Says"Tori Amos3:22
7."Besame Mucho" Chris Isaak 2:46
8."Secret Love" Mandy Moore 3:40
9."What'll I Do" Alison Krauss 3:12
10."Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" The Trevor Horn Orchestra 2:26
11."Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)"The Trevor Horn Orchestra2:49
12."I'm Beginning to See the Light" Kelly Rowland 1:47
13."I've Got the World on a String" Lisa Stansfield 2:20
14."Smile" Barbra Streisand 4:17
15."Suite" Rachel Portman 5:33
Total length:48:27

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 . [5] 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 34% approval rating based on 152 reviews, with an average score of 4.9/10 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". [6]

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." [7] 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." [8]

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." [9]

Accolades

AssociationCategoryRecipientResults
Critics Choice Movie Award Best Song Elton John
Bernie Taupin 		Nominated
Golden Globe Award Best Original Song Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society AwardBest Use of Previously Published or Recorded Music—Nominated
Satellite Award Best Original Song Elton John Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress - Drama/Action-Adventure Julia Stiles Nominated
Choice Movie - Sleazbag Kirsten Dunst Nominated

Reaction from Wellesley and Wellesley alumnae

The college issued an official statement explaining their decision to allow the film to shoot on campus. [10]

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. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ Lang, Brent (September 1, 2011). "'Inside the Revolution Library: Where Joe Roth Went Wrong". TheWrap.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  2. ↑ Mona Lisa Smile at Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ Goldman, Lea; Blakeley, Kiri (January 17, 2007). "The 20 Richest Women In Entertainment". Forbes. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  4. ↑ "The failed audition that changed Melanie Lynskey's life". The Independent. 2023-04-28. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
  5. ↑ "Weekend Box Office December 19–21, 2003". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Mona Lisa Smile Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ Puig, Claudia (December 19, 2003). "Crooked 'Smile'". USA Today.
  8. ↑ Tamny, Elizabeth M. (January 15, 2004). "History Versus Her Story". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ Ansen, David (2003-12-21). "Wipe Off That Smile". Newsweek. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  10. ↑ "Wellesley College Is Among the Stars of the Film, "Mona Lisa Smile"". Wellesley College. December 3, 2003. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  11. ↑ Walsh, Diana Chapman (January 9, 2004). "Message from the President to Wellesley College alumnae concerning the film, Mona Lisa Smile". Wellesley College. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
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