Mona Lisa Smile
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ginnifer Goodwin, Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie GyllenhaalBrand: ROBERTS,JULIA
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
Published: 2004-03-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-09
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Mona Lisa Smile
Movie Review: Petty Betty Gets a Reality Check
Summary: 5 Stars
The initial scene of this exquisite 2003 charmer is narrated by Kirsten Dunst's auburn-haired Wellesley newspaper columnist, Betty Warren, who is as pretty as a rose, and just as thorny, especially in her criticism of those around her.
This is particularly true when a new and unconventional art professor from California named Katherine Watson, played by Julia Roberts, arrives at Wellesley College in the autumn of 1953.
Betty, whose tyrannical mother(Donna Mitchell)is the President of Wellesley's Alumni Association, initially resents the arrival of this "subversive" young teacher with radical ideas.
Directed by Mike Newell, the film's cinematography is periodically bathed in the golden light of nostalgia, and studded with an array of fine performances not only by Roberts and Dunst, but also by a charismatic Julia Stiles as the throaty-voiced, New England-accented Joan Brandwyn, the class leader, and Betty's best friend, Ginnifer Goodwyn, as the plump, friendly, accomplished cellist, Connie, real-life Wellesley alumni Laura Allen as the breathy-voiced, refined-sounding Susan Delacorte, and the willowy and unconventionally beautiful Maggie Gyllenhall as the stereotypically promiscuous daughter of divorced parents, Giselle Levy, who, like Professor Watson, is probably one of the most realistic characters in the film, perhaps more fully aware of certain truths about life and relationships that the strait-laced and conservative Betty will simply have to learn the hard way.
Marcia Gay Harden, who won an Oscar for playing Jackson Pollock's wife, is also featured in this film in which a Pollock painting receives attention. She plays the ettiquette Professor, Nancy Abbey, who like many women of her time has to present a facade of respectabilty in order to cover up the unpleasant truth
about her own status as a single woman. Interestingly we learn about her past in an in vino veritas moment during Betty's wedding reception. We also learn why Betty's wedding day is more her mother's day than her own.
The male counterparts in the film are led by Dominic West, who reprises the role he had as a lying womanizer in "Chicago", only this time as an Italian Professor. Beau Bridges' son, Jordan reveals that the acting genes haven't gone thin as Betty's uncaring husband, Spencer. One feels that Topher Grace as Tommy Donnegal, and Ebon-Moss Bacharach as Betty's sweet cousin, Charlie Stewart, the love interests of Joan and Connie, are destined for happy marriages. Their perfomances lend a certain winsomeness to the story.The reality of Betty's marriage is initially summed up by the single longing glance Betty gives a kissing Joan and Tommy as they visit her at her home.
Juliet Stevenson, a prominent figure in feminist theatre, has an interesting role as the closet case school nurse who is fired after one of Betty's editorials reveals her distribution of conraceptives, which at that time, were illegal.
Viewers observe the routines and rituals of a conservative women's college, as well as the chilly reception Miss Watson receives during her first class,and her challenging of her students'conventional views of art, especially when the fresh, rosy-faced young women respond to the sight of the Jackson Pollack painting.
We observe the growing number of clashes between Professor Watson and the faculty (led by Marian Seldes as a staid and icy President Carr) as well as Betty Warren, who will come to realize how silly she looks in the editorial photos in which she tries to capture the essence of a married Wellesley girl soon enough.
Miss Watson's daring sexual behavior would have raised more eyebrows in its time than it does 50 years later.
The costumes of the women are another point of interest in the representation of their characters. Giselle is often clad in rich, vibrant, if not jewel-toned colors and flesh-revealing clothes, complimented by a necklace with a sensuous heart-shaped pendant, whereas the more conservative Joan and Betty wear conservatively colored, preppier and more modest styles complete with the inevitably prissy set of pearls.
The story itself has a lolling gentility that sharply contrasts with the theme of radicalism that it promotes. Ultimately the conventionally trained members of Wellesley's graduating class of 1954 will be inspired by their art teacher to shape their own destinies, wheather they choose careers of their own or conventional family lives, and while I would agree that this film is the obligatory girls version of "Dead Poets'Society", its touch is delightfully feminine, and the graduating class' tributes to Miss Watson, both in their final class assignment and graduation-day salute, give the film a sunnier and more hopeful ending.
Summary of Mona Lisa Smile
An independent-minded woman accepts a teaching position at Wellesley, an all women's college in 1953, and tries to help her students see the opportunities available to them.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 7-JUN-2005
Media Type: DVD
Julia Roberts's command of the screen is so effortless, it's easy for moviegoers to take her for granted--but we shouldn't. Mona Lisa Smile--about a noncomformist teacher at a private school who encourages students to pursue their individuality--is pretty much an all-girls version of Dead Poets Society that mixes '50s fashions with '70s feminist thought. However, its lack of ambition doesn't diminish the talent that's gone into it: The writing and directing are well-honed and skillful; the actors--a talent-studded cast featuring Marcia Gay Harden, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julia Stiles, and Juliet Stevenson--are uniformly excellent. But without question, Mona Lisa Smile rides on Roberts's shoulders and she carries it with ease. 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. --Bret Fetzer
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