[watermark]【蒙娜丽莎的微笑】6区 发行公司【泰盛文化】DVD9 全女性明星阵容 散发在象牙塔里的心灵芬芳 导演：《哈里波特与火焰杯》迈克·尼维尔克 主演：《永不妥协》朱莉娅·罗伯茨 《蜘蛛侠》柯尔斯滕·邓斯特 《碟影重重》朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯 《兰花贼》玛吉·吉伦哈尔 类型：剧情 国权像字：60-2004-2454号 文像进字：（2004）1705号 国际编码：ISRC CN-D05-05-0358-0/V.J9 条形码：ISBN 7-88366-660-6/9 787883 666608 自编号：1110103700 碟数：单碟装 语言：英文原音、中文配音 级别：PG-13 字幕：中文隐藏字幕、英文隐藏字幕 特别音效：(1)国语DTS 5.1 (2)英语数字杜比环绕AC-3 5.1 (3)英语DTS 5.1 特别收录：1、精彩故事： 艺术论坛、学院的过去与现在、女生的悄悄话：1953 2、艾尔顿·约翰主题曲，由NIGEL DICK导演的音乐电视 THE SONG FOR YOU GIRLS —— Peipei, Francine, Ann, Nina, Junjun, Joe and Cathy.
Music by Elton John Lyrics by Bernie Taupin Available on the Mona Lisa Smile Soundtrack
The Heart Of Every Girl
In the heart of every girl There's a woman waking up Like sunlight spreads across the world A smile for us is just enough But in the heart of every girl There's a homespun family dream A light that's filled with so much joy From a curly-head beauty to a teenage queen And honeymoons in summer prove We'll always love a bride The gift you give us all Is the one you hold inside This lucky life, this crazy mixed up world Is all because we love what lives In the heart of every girl. In the heart of every girl There's always room for Valentines And boys to kneel and tip their hands With words as sweet as summer wine And in the heart of every girl There is a rose for every spring A peach that's fragrant and divine She shines just like a wedding ring. And honeymoons in summer prove? 3、演职员作品年表 4、精彩预告片 [剧情简介] 凯瑟琳·沃森，是个接受了自由改革思想，美丽成熟的女人。她负责在卫斯理一所著名的女子大学任职，这里的学生们大都有着良好的家庭背景，从小接受过优秀的教育。但学院作风保守，从不重视学生的心理教育。凯瑟琳没有像其他老师那样沿袭学校一贯的教学风格，她不仅挑战学校的一些传统法规，而且鼓励学生发掘自己的兴趣，并且大胆去实践她们的想法。最终她以青春率直的作风，丰富的艺术史知识以及风趣热情的授课风格，赢得了学生们的尊敬和爱戴，被女学生称为“蒙娜丽莎”。本片多次被影评赞誉为能教化人心，隽永再三的影史佳片。 《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》发生的环境是上世纪50年代的卫斯理女子学院，剧组为了还原真实的校园生活，特地前往原地拍摄。这所女子学院坐落在波士顿以北10英里的地方，摄制组在2002年秋天的时候，驻进了这里开始了拍摄。当时的气候刚好接近深秋，女子学院校园里的枫叶飘浮在爽朗的天空，落在校园的小路上，洋溢着古典的浪漫气息，非常适合影片要营造的情感氛围。 50年前的女子穿着打扮显然和我们现在有很大不同，当时的卫斯理女子学院里的学生都要求束胸，即是用柔软的胶制白布围住胸部，隐藏女性美丽的曲线，为此，服装设计师要求饰演女学生的几十位演员们每天都要佩带束胸带。“上帝啊，这太拘束了”，在影片中饰演聪明学生琼的朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯，谈到拍片的感受时这样说道。 导演迈克·尼维尔在根据剧本拍摄的同时，还亲自接见了卫斯理女子学院的十几位女毕业生，让她们谈在这所学校里学习的感受，之后还从她们的谈话里汲取灵感，为剧本添加了许多有趣的细节。 柯尔斯滕·邓斯特(饰演 贝蒂) 21岁的柯尔斯滕·邓斯特的成功和同时期的年轻演员相比有偶然的成份，但也和她本人的素质有更大的关系。12岁就因《夜访吸血鬼》中的表演技惊四座，这也是她虽然貌不出众，但却深受众多大导演器重的原因。在本片中，邓斯特扮演凯瑟琳的学生贝蒂，和凯瑟琳一样，她是一个意志坚定的女性，但她对人生的看法却和凯瑟琳完全不同。在她看来，女人最重要的事就是结婚生子，至于学习和事业都是不太需要考虑的事情。这就难怪，从一开始，凯瑟琳和贝蒂之间就矛盾重重。贝蒂为了自己的婚礼误了好几节课，遭到凯瑟琳的批评；她甚至对凯瑟琳说：“我要教育你”。可以说，贝蒂是片中保守势力的代表，也是凯瑟琳面对的一大难题。 朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯(饰演 琼) 这位22岁的年轻女星凭着《舞出一片天》、《奥赛罗》而确立了自己在同代人之中的显赫地位。虽然中国观众可能对她的那张大饼脸不以为然.但是却无法否认她身上体现出的青春气息和强烈的感染力。斯泰尔斯在片中扮演凯瑟琳的学生琼，她热情地对待生活和爰情，在凯瑟琳的启发下意识到自己的人生价值，是凯瑟琳在学生中最早的同盟军之一。 玛吉·吉伦哈尔(饰演 莉薇) 今年26岁的她扮演女大学生可能有点嫌老，但就她在《风流老板俏秘书》中的表现看，凭她的演技完全可以弥补年龄的问题。而且在片中，吉伦哈尔扮演的就是一个非常早熟的女孩，凯瑟琳的学生莉薇。这个在十几岁就已经风流性感的女孩决心跳过青春期，直接进入“21岁俱乐部”。莉薇在片中主要起到调剂气氛的作用，但极有可能获得比主要角色更好的观众缘。 玛西娅·哈登(饰演 南希) 在很长一段时间内，玛西娅·哈登一直处于明星和非明星之间的尴尬地位。2001年，她因为在《波拉克》中的出色表现而获得奥斯卡最佳女配角奖，从此一举成名。在《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》中，哈登扮演凯瑟琳的同事南希，相信这位演技出色的43岁女星会出色地完成自己“绿叶”的光荣使命。 [电影评论] 蒙娜丽莎的微笑，本身就是一个非常有诱惑力的名字，而且是我非常感兴趣的教育题材电影。很多人可能会下意识的把它和另一部已被奉为经典的〈死亡诗社〉相比，但用心险恶——虽然两者都是关于老师激励学生奋进的影片，但《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》却因为片中角色全部换成女性而被人们戏称为“死亡主妇公社”，这样的攻击让人很难相信我们活在2003年。在这一年里涌现了如此多的女性佳作，有些是女性主演，有些是女性导演，比如《十三岁》、《迷失东京》、《希尔维亚》、《托斯卡纳艳阳下》……更不用提那些掌控着好莱坞电影公司的女总裁们。也许是因为《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》阵容过于耀眼，致使“大男子主义”的讨伐不得不再次聚焦于这些出类拔萃的女星身上。 我觉得迈克纽维尔在处理很多场重头戏时，都有意识的避开〈死〉的感觉。比如，不会安排学生与校方，家长的激烈冲突，甚至是自杀。在学生对教师凯瑟琳的支持上，也不刻意出现《死亡诗社》中最后学生站在课桌上，那段让人血脉贲张的镜头，毕竟可以理解的是，女生在处理各种微妙感情时，会有自己独特的方式，这应该是火星人都能理解的金星心态。影片最后的高潮戏，女生们骑自行车，追随凯瑟琳的汽车，让我想起ET中的场景，虽然这些女生不会飞上天空，但同样有超越的心态。 在这里，我不得不提到朱丽娅罗伯茨，个人认为这是我最喜欢她的一部电影，甚至超过了《永不妥协》，她在矜持和叛逆之间找到一个很好的表情支持点，那就是她深达耳根的大嘴，嘴角的微微抽动，很好的诠释了主角的复杂心态。 要说到不足之处，比如剧情的分散和单薄，我觉得有一点是《蒙》《死》两片都缺乏的，是对主角的过去都用了很少的笔墨，好像是凭空进入银幕的，带着神授的使命，来拯救灵魂。而至少在我理解，能够做出如此对抗权威行为的人，一定有其不一样的过去，一个富有进攻性的人，同时也是一个脆弱的人。 另外，影片中提到了毕加索在画史上的地位。在1956 年夏天，法国著名导演克鲁佐获得了毕加索的同意，拍摄了纪录片〈毕加索的秘密〉，影片忠实纪录了毕加索创作20余幅绘画作品的详细过程。《华盛顿邮报》曾撰文惊叹“不可思议！试想，你正与这样一位大师共处同一画室！”毕加索曾说过：“就我个人而言，一幅画乃是破坏的结果。”在观看这部影片的过程中，我们能够清晰地感受到这种破坏，一些凌乱的线条，夸张，变形，多维的人物造型，再一次，又一次的在原先的构图上覆盖大面积的色块。我只能说，毕加索的伟大，不只在于画作本身，他以其独特的艺术行为，对应合适的时代背景，从而使随性，写意的绘画思维，手法，线条，画面，能与传统，严谨的绘画技法，得到同样的承认与肯定。相信这才是关键。而这种思维也贯穿于《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》这部电影中。 芝加哥太阳报ROGER EBERT 的影评，打分是三星，最高是四星 I find it hard to believe that Wellesley College was as reactionary in the autumn of 1953 as "Mona Lisa Smile" says it is -- but then I wasn't there. Neither were the screenwriters, who reportedly based their screenplay on Hillary Clinton's experience at Wellesley in the early 1960s. The film shows a school which teaches, above all, that a woman's duty is to stand by her man, and if Clinton learned that, she also learned a good deal more. No doubt she had a teacher as inspiring as Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who trades in the bohemian freedom of Berkeley for a crack at Wellesley's future corporate wives. This is the kind of school which actually offers classes in deportment, grooming and table setting, and the teacher of those classes, Nancy Abbey (Marcia Gay Harden) takes them so seriously that we begin to understand the system that produced Cathy Whitaker, Julianne Moore's showpiece wife in last year's "Far From Heaven." Watson finds her students scornful of her California background (every students makes it a point to be able to identify every slide of every painting in her first lecture), but she counterattacks with a blast of modern art, and there is a scene where she takes them to watch the uncrating of a new work by Jackson Pollock. Of course the board of trustees is suspicious of Katherine Watson, modern art and everything else that is potentially "subversive," and resistance among the undergraduates is led by Betty (Kirsten Dunst), whose mother is a trustee, whose plans include marrying an upward-bound but morally shifty Harvard man, and whose editorials in the school paper suggest Watson is leading her girls in the direction of communism and, worse, promiscuity. (A school nurse who gives advice on contraception has to leave her job.) We are pretty sure what the story parabola of "Mona Lisa Smile" will be (the inspiring teacher will overcome adversity to enlighten and guide), but the movie is more observant and thoughtful than we expect. It doesn't just grind out the formula, but seems more like the record of an actual school year than about the needs of the plot. In the delicate dance of audience identification, we get to be both the teacher and her students -- to imagine ourselves as a free spirit in a closed system, and as a student whose life is forever changed by her. But, you're wondering, how can I identify with a 30ish teacher and her 20ish female students? Don't you find yourself identifying with just about anybody on the screen, if the movie is really working? Katherine Watson is smart and brave and stands by her beliefs, and so of course she reminds us of ourselves. Julia Roberts is above all an actress with a winning way; we like her, feel protective toward her, want her to prevail. In "Mona Lisa Smile," she is the conduit for the plot, which flows through her character. The major supporting roles are played by luminaries of the first post-Julia generation, including not only Dunst, but Julia Stiles as Joan Brandwyn, a girl smart enough to be accepted by Yale Law but perhaps not smart enough to choose it over marriage; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Giselle Levy, who is sexually advanced and has even, it is said, slept with the studly young Italian professor, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Constance Baker, who is too concerned about her looks. "A few years from now," the Wellesley students are solemnly informed, "your sole responsibility will be taking care of your husband and children." This is not a priority Watson can agree with. She tells the competent but conservative school president (Marian Seldes), "I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow's leaders -- not their wives." Unlike the typical heroes of movies about inspiring teachers, however, she doesn't think the answer lies in exuberance, freedom and letting it all hang out, but in actually studying and doing the work, and she despairs when competent students throw away their futures (as she sees it) for marriage to men who have already started to cheat before their wedding days. Watson herself has a fairly lively love life, with a boyfriend in California (John Slattery) and now a warmth for the abovementioned studly Italian teacher (Dominic West), although it is probably not true, as a student rumor has it, that she had to come east because of a torrid affair with William Holden.The movie is not really about her romances at all, but about her function as a teacher and her determination to install feminism on the campus before that noun was widely in use. The movie, directed by Mike Newell, may be a little too aware of its sexual politics and might have been more absorbing if Katherine and her students were fighting their way together out of the chains of gender slavery. But the characters involve us, we sympathize with their dreams and despair of their matrimonial tunnel vision, and at the end we are relieved that we listened to Miss Watson and became the wonderful people who we are today. [/watermark]
发行公司【泰盛文化】DVD9
全女性明星阵容 散发在象牙塔里的心灵芬芳
导演：《哈里波特与火焰杯》迈克·尼维尔克
主演：《永不妥协》朱莉娅·罗伯茨
《蜘蛛侠》柯尔斯滕·邓斯特
《碟影重重》朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯
《兰花贼》玛吉·吉伦哈尔
类型：剧情
国权像字：60-2004-2454号
文像进字：（2004）1705号
国际编码：ISRC CN-D05-05-0358-0/V.J9
条形码：ISBN 7-88366-660-6/9 787883 666608
自编号：1110103700
碟数：单碟装
语言：英文原音、中文配音
级别：PG-13
字幕：中文隐藏字幕、英文隐藏字幕
特别音效：(1)国语DTS 5.1 (2)英语数字杜比环绕AC-3 5.1 (3)英语DTS 5.1
特别收录：1、精彩故事： 艺术论坛、学院的过去与现在、女生的悄悄话：1953 2、艾尔顿·约翰主题曲，由NIGEL DICK导演的音乐电视
THE SONG FOR YOU GIRLS
—— Peipei, Francine, Ann, Nina, Junjun, Joe and Cathy.
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the Mona Lisa Smile Soundtrack
The Heart Of Every Girl
In the heart of every girl
There's a woman waking up
Like sunlight spreads across the world
A smile for us is just enough
But in the heart of every girl
There's a homespun family dream
A light that's filled with so much joy
From a curly-head beauty to a teenage queen
And honeymoons in summer prove
We'll always love a bride
The gift you give us all
Is the one you hold inside
This lucky life, this crazy mixed up world
Is all because we love what lives
In the heart of every girl.
In the heart of every girl
There's always room for Valentines
And boys to kneel and tip their hands
With words as sweet as summer wine
And in the heart of every girl
There is a rose for every spring
A peach that's fragrant and divine
She shines just like a wedding ring.
And honeymoons in summer prove?
3、演职员作品年表 4、精彩预告片
[剧情简介]
凯瑟琳·沃森，是个接受了自由改革思想，美丽成熟的女人。她负责在卫斯理一所著名的女子大学任职，这里的学生们大都有着良好的家庭背景，从小接受过优秀的教育。但学院作风保守，从不重视学生的心理教育。凯瑟琳没有像其他老师那样沿袭学校一贯的教学风格，她不仅挑战学校的一些传统法规，而且鼓励学生发掘自己的兴趣，并且大胆去实践她们的想法。最终她以青春率直的作风，丰富的艺术史知识以及风趣热情的授课风格，赢得了学生们的尊敬和爱戴，被女学生称为“蒙娜丽莎”。本片多次被影评赞誉为能教化人心，隽永再三的影史佳片。
《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》发生的环境是上世纪50年代的卫斯理女子学院，剧组为了还原真实的校园生活，特地前往原地拍摄。这所女子学院坐落在波士顿以北10英里的地方，摄制组在2002年秋天的时候，驻进了这里开始了拍摄。当时的气候刚好接近深秋，女子学院校园里的枫叶飘浮在爽朗的天空，落在校园的小路上，洋溢着古典的浪漫气息，非常适合影片要营造的情感氛围。
50年前的女子穿着打扮显然和我们现在有很大不同，当时的卫斯理女子学院里的学生都要求束胸，即是用柔软的胶制白布围住胸部，隐藏女性美丽的曲线，为此，服装设计师要求饰演女学生的几十位演员们每天都要佩带束胸带。“上帝啊，这太拘束了”，在影片中饰演聪明学生琼的朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯，谈到拍片的感受时这样说道。
导演迈克·尼维尔在根据剧本拍摄的同时，还亲自接见了卫斯理女子学院的十几位女毕业生，让她们谈在这所学校里学习的感受，之后还从她们的谈话里汲取灵感，为剧本添加了许多有趣的细节。
柯尔斯滕·邓斯特(饰演 贝蒂)
21岁的柯尔斯滕·邓斯特的成功和同时期的年轻演员相比有偶然的成份，但也和她本人的素质有更大的关系。12岁就因《夜访吸血鬼》中的表演技惊四座，这也是她虽然貌不出众，但却深受众多大导演器重的原因。在本片中，邓斯特扮演凯瑟琳的学生贝蒂，和凯瑟琳一样，她是一个意志坚定的女性，但她对人生的看法却和凯瑟琳完全不同。在她看来，女人最重要的事就是结婚生子，至于学习和事业都是不太需要考虑的事情。这就难怪，从一开始，凯瑟琳和贝蒂之间就矛盾重重。贝蒂为了自己的婚礼误了好几节课，遭到凯瑟琳的批评；她甚至对凯瑟琳说：“我要教育你”。可以说，贝蒂是片中保守势力的代表，也是凯瑟琳面对的一大难题。
朱莉娅·斯泰尔斯(饰演 琼)
这位22岁的年轻女星凭着《舞出一片天》、《奥赛罗》而确立了自己在同代人之中的显赫地位。虽然中国观众可能对她的那张大饼脸不以为然.但是却无法否认她身上体现出的青春气息和强烈的感染力。斯泰尔斯在片中扮演凯瑟琳的学生琼，她热情地对待生活和爰情，在凯瑟琳的启发下意识到自己的人生价值，是凯瑟琳在学生中最早的同盟军之一。
玛吉·吉伦哈尔(饰演 莉薇)
今年26岁的她扮演女大学生可能有点嫌老，但就她在《风流老板俏秘书》中的表现看，凭她的演技完全可以弥补年龄的问题。而且在片中，吉伦哈尔扮演的就是一个非常早熟的女孩，凯瑟琳的学生莉薇。这个在十几岁就已经风流性感的女孩决心跳过青春期，直接进入“21岁俱乐部”。莉薇在片中主要起到调剂气氛的作用，但极有可能获得比主要角色更好的观众缘。
玛西娅·哈登(饰演 南希)
在很长一段时间内，玛西娅·哈登一直处于明星和非明星之间的尴尬地位。2001年，她因为在《波拉克》中的出色表现而获得奥斯卡最佳女配角奖，从此一举成名。在《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》中，哈登扮演凯瑟琳的同事南希，相信这位演技出色的43岁女星会出色地完成自己“绿叶”的光荣使命。
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蒙娜丽莎的微笑，本身就是一个非常有诱惑力的名字，而且是我非常感兴趣的教育题材电影。很多人可能会下意识的把它和另一部已被奉为经典的〈死亡诗社〉相比，但用心险恶——虽然两者都是关于老师激励学生奋进的影片，但《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》却因为片中角色全部换成女性而被人们戏称为“死亡主妇公社”，这样的攻击让人很难相信我们活在2003年。在这一年里涌现了如此多的女性佳作，有些是女性主演，有些是女性导演，比如《十三岁》、《迷失东京》、《希尔维亚》、《托斯卡纳艳阳下》……更不用提那些掌控着好莱坞电影公司的女总裁们。也许是因为《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》阵容过于耀眼，致使“大男子主义”的讨伐不得不再次聚焦于这些出类拔萃的女星身上。
我觉得迈克纽维尔在处理很多场重头戏时，都有意识的避开〈死〉的感觉。比如，不会安排学生与校方，家长的激烈冲突，甚至是自杀。在学生对教师凯瑟琳的支持上，也不刻意出现《死亡诗社》中最后学生站在课桌上，那段让人血脉贲张的镜头，毕竟可以理解的是，女生在处理各种微妙感情时，会有自己独特的方式，这应该是火星人都能理解的金星心态。影片最后的高潮戏，女生们骑自行车，追随凯瑟琳的汽车，让我想起ET中的场景，虽然这些女生不会飞上天空，但同样有超越的心态。
在这里，我不得不提到朱丽娅罗伯茨，个人认为这是我最喜欢她的一部电影，甚至超过了《永不妥协》，她在矜持和叛逆之间找到一个很好的表情支持点，那就是她深达耳根的大嘴，嘴角的微微抽动，很好的诠释了主角的复杂心态。
要说到不足之处，比如剧情的分散和单薄，我觉得有一点是《蒙》《死》两片都缺乏的，是对主角的过去都用了很少的笔墨，好像是凭空进入银幕的，带着神授的使命，来拯救灵魂。而至少在我理解，能够做出如此对抗权威行为的人，一定有其不一样的过去，一个富有进攻性的人，同时也是一个脆弱的人。
另外，影片中提到了毕加索在画史上的地位。在1956 年夏天，法国著名导演克鲁佐获得了毕加索的同意，拍摄了纪录片〈毕加索的秘密〉，影片忠实纪录了毕加索创作20余幅绘画作品的详细过程。《华盛顿邮报》曾撰文惊叹“不可思议！试想，你正与这样一位大师共处同一画室！”毕加索曾说过：“就我个人而言，一幅画乃是破坏的结果。”在观看这部影片的过程中，我们能够清晰地感受到这种破坏，一些凌乱的线条，夸张，变形，多维的人物造型，再一次，又一次的在原先的构图上覆盖大面积的色块。我只能说，毕加索的伟大，不只在于画作本身，他以其独特的艺术行为，对应合适的时代背景，从而使随性，写意的绘画思维，手法，线条，画面，能与传统，严谨的绘画技法，得到同样的承认与肯定。相信这才是关键。而这种思维也贯穿于《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》这部电影中。
芝加哥太阳报ROGER EBERT 的影评，打分是三星，最高是四星
I find it hard to believe that Wellesley College was as reactionary in the autumn of 1953 as "Mona Lisa Smile" says it is -- but then I wasn't there. Neither were the screenwriters, who reportedly based their screenplay on Hillary Clinton's experience at Wellesley in the early 1960s. The film shows a school which teaches, above all, that a woman's duty is to stand by her man, and if Clinton learned that, she also learned a good deal more. No doubt she had a teacher as inspiring as Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who trades in the bohemian freedom of Berkeley for a crack at Wellesley's future corporate wives.
This is the kind of school which actually offers classes in deportment, grooming and table setting, and the teacher of those classes, Nancy Abbey (Marcia Gay Harden) takes them so seriously that we begin to understand the system that produced Cathy Whitaker, Julianne Moore's showpiece wife in last year's "Far From Heaven." Watson finds her students scornful of her California background (every students makes it a point to be able to identify every slide of every painting in her first lecture), but she counterattacks with a blast of modern art, and there is a scene where she takes them to watch the uncrating of a new work by Jackson Pollock.
Of course the board of trustees is suspicious of Katherine Watson, modern art and everything else that is potentially "subversive," and resistance among the undergraduates is led by Betty (Kirsten Dunst), whose mother is a trustee, whose plans include marrying an upward-bound but morally shifty Harvard man, and whose editorials in the school paper suggest Watson is leading her girls in the direction of communism and, worse, promiscuity. (A school nurse who gives advice on contraception has to leave her job.)
We are pretty sure what the story parabola of "Mona Lisa Smile" will be (the inspiring teacher will overcome adversity to enlighten and guide), but the movie is more observant and thoughtful than we expect. It doesn't just grind out the formula, but seems more like the record of an actual school year than about the needs of the plot. In the delicate dance of audience identification, we get to be both the teacher and her students -- to imagine ourselves as a free spirit in a closed system, and as a student whose life is forever changed by her.
But, you're wondering, how can I identify with a 30ish teacher and her 20ish female students? Don't you find yourself identifying with just about anybody on the screen, if the movie is really working? Katherine Watson is smart and brave and stands by her beliefs, and so of course she reminds us of ourselves.
Julia Roberts is above all an actress with a winning way; we like her, feel protective toward her, want her to prevail. In "Mona Lisa Smile," she is the conduit for the plot, which flows through her character. The major supporting roles are played by luminaries of the first post-Julia generation, including not only Dunst, but Julia Stiles as Joan Brandwyn, a girl smart enough to be accepted by Yale Law but perhaps not smart enough to choose it over marriage; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Giselle Levy, who is sexually advanced and has even, it is said, slept with the studly young Italian professor, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Constance Baker, who is too concerned about her looks.
"A few years from now," the Wellesley students are solemnly informed, "your sole responsibility will be taking care of your husband and children." This is not a priority Watson can agree with. She tells the competent but conservative school president (Marian Seldes), "I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow's leaders -- not their wives." Unlike the typical heroes of movies about inspiring teachers, however, she doesn't think the answer lies in exuberance, freedom and letting it all hang out, but in actually studying and doing the work, and she despairs when competent students throw away their futures (as she sees it) for marriage to men who have already started to cheat before their wedding days.
Watson herself has a fairly lively love life, with a boyfriend in California (John Slattery) and now a warmth for the abovementioned studly Italian teacher (Dominic West), although it is probably not true, as a student rumor has it, that she had to come east because of a torrid affair with William Holden.The movie is not really about her romances at all, but about her function as a teacher and her determination to install feminism on the campus before that noun was widely in use. The movie, directed by Mike Newell, may be a little too aware of its sexual politics and might have been more absorbing if Katherine and her students were fighting their way together out of the chains of gender slavery. But the characters involve us, we sympathize with their dreams and despair of their matrimonial tunnel vision, and at the end we are relieved that we listened to Miss Watson and became the wonderful people who we are today.
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