Drama, 2003
Director: Mike Newell
Score: ***

Mike Newell’s (Four Weddings and a Funeral) Christmas offering, Mona Lisa Smile, has the best of what he has offered in his past films – a dark horse making it good in a feel good melodrama filled with elaborate sets.  In Mona Lisa Smile the time is 1953 and the setting is the prestigious all-female Wellesley College in the States, when and where women’s roles were rigidly defined by how well they marry.  Enter novice art history professor Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) who challengies the administration and inspires her students to do more with their lives.

The trouble with the script is the depiction of Watson as the almighty know-it-all with everyone else being imperfect or silly sods.  This is no Prime of Miss Jean Brodie where sacrifice comes with a price for both teacher and student and where the period of the era affects the story.  Mona Lisa Smile is all good-goody Christmassy and though the script should be credited for some nice touches (Watson’s star student turns the tables and her initial failure makes good) and a few subtleties (Stephenson as the renegade lesbian) with neat performances particularly from the young cast (Kirsten Dunst and Julia Styles), the film ultimately gets bogged down by its good intentions.  Fantastic 50’s soundtrack though.

GILBERT SEAH was born in Singapore and moved to Toronto in 1982. He is an engineer by profession, with a passion for the cinema. Since the age of 10, he has been to the movies almost daily. Having been brought up in the Asian, British and Canadian cultures, he is able to bring a distinct perspective to film.