It's a pleasure to see a film that concerns itself with social mores and values with a certain amount of honesty and intelligence. That said, I would add, that I wish "Mona Lisa Smile" had been a bit less slick and predictable...but perhaps that's asking too much of a Hollywood movie.
Julia Roberts does a creditable job portraying a free-spirited teacher, schooled at Berkeley, now bringing her somewhat unconventional ideas to her art history students at conservative Wellsley College in the 50s. The girls are from privileged backgrounds, with varying personalities, shaped by their early influences...conformist, broken homes etc. Roberts' Catherine Watson stays true to her strong beliefs in choices a woman has to fulfill her life beyond marriage and children...or even in addition to them. I was particularly impressed by the response of one of the students who confronts Watson, saying that a woman doesn't necessarily lose her intelligence or creativity by finding fulfillment in marriage and family. It has all too often been thought otherwise...especially since the advent of feminism. To relate creatively in a marriage and as a mother challenges a woman to be as independent and uniquely herself as in any professional or worldly occupation...and surely of equal importance.
It's worth seeing this movie to consider its concerns and hopefully engender some discussion of them.
Julia Roberts does a creditable job portraying a free-spirited teacher, schooled at Berkeley, now bringing her somewhat unconventional ideas to her art history students at conservative Wellsley College in the 50s. The girls are from privileged backgrounds, with varying personalities, shaped by their early influences...conformist, broken homes etc. Roberts' Catherine Watson stays true to her strong beliefs in choices a woman has to fulfill her life beyond marriage and children...or even in addition to them. I was particularly impressed by the response of one of the students who confronts Watson, saying that a woman doesn't necessarily lose her intelligence or creativity by finding fulfillment in marriage and family. It has all too often been thought otherwise...especially since the advent of feminism. To relate creatively in a marriage and as a mother challenges a woman to be as independent and uniquely herself as in any professional or worldly occupation...and surely of equal importance.
It's worth seeing this movie to consider its concerns and hopefully engender some discussion of them.