Mona Lisa Smile movie

A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 50's Wellesley girls to question their traditional societal roles.

Mona Lisa Smile is a 2003 film that was produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, and Julia Stiles. The title is a reference to the Mona Lisa, the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and the song of the same name, originally performed by Nat King Cole, which was covered by Seal for the movie. She encourages her students to believe in themselves, to study to become career professionals, and to improve their economic futures.

She utilizes her art teachings as a vehicle to put across her opinion to the young women; that her students neednt conform to stereotypes of women made by society, or the roles made for them by society, as women born to become housewives and mothers. She felt that women could do more things in life than solely adopt the roles of wives and mothers. In one scene of the movie, she shows her students four newspaper ads, and asks them to question what the future will think of the idea that women are born into the roles of wives and mothers.Watsons ideas and ways of teaching are contrary to methods deemed acceptable by the schools directors; conservative women who believe firmly that Watson should not use her class to express her points of views or befriend students, and should stick only to teaching art. Watson is warned that she could be fired if she continues to interact with students as she has been doing.Undaunted, Watson becomes stronger in her speeches about feminism and the future of women. She is a firm believer that the outlook of women in society needed to be changed if women were to achieve better futures, and that she needed to instill a spirit of change among her students.Watson chooses to leave after the one year but, as she is leaving the campus for the last time, her students run after her car, to show their affection and to thank her for her lessons. Many people have noticed the films similarity to Dead Poets Society even going so far as to refer to it as "the feminist Dead Poets Society" or "Dead Poets Society with girls" 1.

All Mona Lisa Smile trailers available on youtube

Mona Lisa Smile Cast

• Dominic West
• Donna Mitchell
• Ginnifer Goodwin
• Jennie Eisenhower
• John Slattery
• Julia Stiles
• Juliet Stevenson
• Kirsten Dunst
• Laura Allen
• Leslie Lyles
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Marcia Gay Harden
• Marian Seldes
• Terence Rigby