Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
“It must be torturous running after a man who doesn’t even care about you. Who’s in love with someone else. Who hates you!” – Betty.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Directed by: Mike Newell
Written by: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Starring: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin
I marry, therefore I am.
For every self-respecting young woman in 1950s America, the words ‘I do’ denoted both the beginning and end of their adult life. A society that propagated archaic gender roles convinced young women that it was both an expectation and a privilege to get married, only for the woman to then relinquish any semblance of autonomy as she assumed the role of a ‘doting housewife.’
Much like Little Women, Mona Lisa Smile explores the hypocrisy of this patriarchal society through the lens of a progressive woman. However, instead of the precocious Jo March, we are guided by Katherine Ann Watson (Roberts), an art history professor who begins working at an all-women’s private school. Much to the dismay of the traditionally conformist teachers, Watson encourages the young women to pursue their dreams, outraged at the sensibilities of what she describes as “a finishing school disguised as a college.” Among her students are Betty (Dunst), a soon-to-be-wed traditionalist, Joan (Stiles), an aspiring lawyer, Giselle (Gyllenhaal), an eternally cynical free spirit, and Connie (Goodwin), a shy but kind-hearted romantic.
For all its flaws, Mona Lisa Smile has the bones of a good movie; a compelling but complicated social convention to deconstruct, a who’s-who of early 2000s actresses, and a genuinely spellbinding setting. The first fifteen minutes were actually so promising that I expected an emotionally resonant story like Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society.
However, the film unfortunately played it far too safe, electing to dramatise bland, one-dimensional characters over making meaningful comments about the post-suffragette movement. Characters are quickly sorted into one of two baskets – those who are unwilling to change, and those who are willing to ‘fight the system’. At one end of the spectrum is Betty – the poster child for newlywed bliss - and the other is Katherine, the non-conformist disruptor. Whilst this absolutist categorisation seems fitting for what is ostensibly a two-sided gender-war, the discussion around women’s activism was clearly more nuanced than this. Family expectations, religious beliefs, and generations of social conditioning were all very real barriers that women had to navigate in order to move from one ‘side’ to the other. In other words, people are too complicated to be sorted into one of two groups, and Mona Lisa Smile refuses to acknowledge this. This culminates in a disappointing but predictable ending, where there are no real repercussions and any characters on the ‘wrong side’ decide to renounce their wicked ways.
While there are some outstanding performances, headlined by Maggie Gylennhaal’s acid-tongued Giselle, Mona Lisa Smile fails to get out of first gear, barely scratching the surface of the multifaceted social injustice that still rages today. This leaves the ending feeling hollow rather than triumphant, and a waste of such a talented ensemble cast.
Rating: 6/10