Katherine Watson walks into Wellesley College in 1953 with a stack of textbooks and a plan to break them. Julia Roberts plays her as a fresh UCLA graduate who wants to teach art history and change minds along the way. The film wants to be a story about young women finding their voices. Mostly, it settles for a soap opera with a few ideas.
Katherine and the Wellesley Students
Roberts carries the film with a steady, patient performance as Katherine, a woman who believes art can open minds and change lives. She pushes her students to think beyond the syllabus, to question the conventions of their time, and to consider what a life outside marriage might look like. That push is the engine of the movie, and when the film stays there, it works.
The problem is that the supporting cast gets less room to breathe. Kirsten Dunst plays Betty Warren, an outspoken conservative who writes editorials for the college paper and attacks Katherine’s teachings. Julia Stiles plays Joan Brandwyn, a student caught between her family’s expectations and her own desires. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Giselle Levy, a quiet presence whose relationship with Connie Baker becomes a central thread of the story. Each of these women has a distinct arc, but the script often buries them under the weight of Katherine’s lessons.
The result is a film that feels like a lecture series with a few personal dramas attached. Katherine’s arguments are delivered with conviction, but they are rarely tested. The students nod, the camera pans, and the next scene moves on. The film trusts its audience to agree with Katherine rather than showing us why we should.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Betty Warren and the Campus Paper
Betty is the film’s most interesting character, and Dunst plays her with a sharp edge. Betty writes editorials attacking Katherine’s teachings, insisting that there is a universal standard for what counts as good art. She also exposes campus nurse Amanda Armstrong for supplying contraception to students, which leads to Amanda’s termination.
But Betty’s own life is a mess. She is engaged to Spencer, and she expects the traditional married-student exemptions that come with it. Katherine refuses to grant them, insisting on grading Betty on merit and expecting her to complete all assignments and tests. When Betty’s married life does not go smoothly, she takes out her frustrations on the other girls, particularly Connie and Giselle.
The tension between Betty and Katherine is the film’s best dramatic engine. Betty is not a villain; she is a woman trapped by the same conventions Katherine wants to dismantle. The film tries to make this clear, but it never quite commits to it. Betty’s attacks on Katherine feel more like plot devices than character choices, and her eventual confrontation with Connie is rushed and underwritten.
Connie Baker and the Love Triangle
Connie Baker is the heart of the film’s emotional core. She is surprised when Charlie expresses genuine interest in her, and they begin dating. But Betty interferes, claiming Charlie is actually dating Deb, the daughter of the couple Charlie had avoided while they were on holiday. Connie breaks things off, and weeks later, she and Charlie reconnect. Charlie insists he had stopped seeing Deb the previous summer and only began dating his current girlfriend after Connie stopped seeing him.
Connie tearfully confronts Betty for lying and being hurtful, asking why Betty could not let her be happy. This is a moment that could have landed hard. Instead, it passes too quickly, buried under the film’s larger concerns.
The love triangle is a chance to explore what it means for a woman to choose her own happiness in 1953. The film hints at it, then moves on. That is a missed opportunity.
The Cast Around Katherine
Julia Stiles plays Joan Brandwyn, a student caught between her family’s expectations and her own desires. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Giselle Levy, a quiet presence whose relationship with Connie Baker becomes a central thread of the story. Ginnifer Goodwin plays Connie Baker. Juliet Stevenson plays Amanda Armstrong, the nurse who is exposed and terminated. Marcia Gay Harden plays Nancy Abbey. John Slattery plays Paul Moore. Marian Seldes plays Jocelyn Carr. Donna Mitchell plays Mrs. Warren. Terence Rigby plays Edward Staunton.
None of these performances is wasted, but none is given enough to elevate the material. The film’s ensemble approach is a strength on paper. In practice, it becomes a chorus of voices that echo Katherine’s lessons rather than challenge them.
The Title and Its References
The title Mona Lisa Smile is a reference to two things. One is the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The other is the song of the same name, originally performed by Nat King Cole, which was covered by Seal for the film. The title promises a film about looking beneath the surface, about seeing more than what is shown. The film itself rarely delivers on that promise.
The film was produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions. It was directed by Mike Newell, and the screenplay was written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal. Julia Roberts received a record $25 million for her performance, the highest ever earned by an actress at that time.
Those figures are worth noting because they speak to the film’s ambitions. A $25 million salary suggests a production that wanted to be taken seriously. The film’s $72.3 million budget and $141.3 million gross suggest it was a commercial success. None of that translates into a satisfying viewing experience.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The film’s strengths are its intentions. Katherine’s desire to inspire her students is sincere, and Roberts sells it with warmth and conviction. The performances around her are capable, even if the material does not ask enough of them. The settings, filmed at Wellesley College, give the period a lived-in texture.
The weaknesses are structural. The film is too thin to sustain its running time, and it repeats its themes without building toward anything new. Betty’s arc is the most promising storyline, but it is resolved in a way that feels rushed and unsatisfying. The film’s tagline promises that Katherine shows her students “more,” but the film itself rarely shows us what that means.
- The performances are competent across the board.
- The setting feels lived-in and specific.
- The themes are clear and well-intentioned.
- The pacing is uneven, with too much repetition.
- Betty’s arc is the most promising storyline.
- The resolution of the love triangle is rushed.
These are the facts on the ground. They do not add up to a great film, but they add up to a watchable one.
Verdict
Mona Lisa Smile is a film that means well and occasionally succeeds. Roberts anchors it with warmth and conviction, and the film’s intentions are easy to understand. But the script is too thin to sustain its themes, and the supporting characters are often reduced to plot devices. The film’s best moments come from its actors working against its own limitations.
It is a film about women finding their voices, and it does manage to capture some of that spirit. It is not a great film, but it is not a failure either. It is a middling one, and it deserves to be judged as such.
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