Mona Lisa Smile (2003) on Netflix
Katherine Watson arrives at Wellesley College in 1953 to teach art history. Her students have memorized the textbook and expect to marry. She introduces modern art and asks what else they want.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.6/10100,592 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes34%
Trailer
Plot summary
Katherine Watson, a graduate student at Oakland State University, joins the Wellesley College faculty to teach art history in 1953. Wellesley is an exclusive school whose faculty, students and alumnae look down on state universities, and her students treat her accordingly. She finds them book smart but unused to thinking for themselves, steered by parents and administrators toward traditional lives and marriage into good families. Katherine brings modern art into her classroom and asks the class to argue about what counts as art. Betty Warren, who writes editorials for the college paper, holds that a single standard defines good art, and she opposes Katherine's approach. Joan Brandwyn, Giselle Levy and Connie Baker are among those she teaches.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Julia Roberts was paid $25 million to star as Katherine Watson, a record fee that was, at the time, the highest amount any actress had ever earned for a single film role.
- Wellesley College president Diana Chapman Walsh publicly expressed regret over the backlash the film caused, after many alumnae who had attended in the 1950s objected that its portrayal of the college was inaccurate.
